The Sacrificial Lamb
by cheri1
Summary: Eleven/Rose, Amy/Rory and River: After a heated argument, Rory decides to go back home but while he's there, he uncovers a dangerous cult based in London that the Doctor and his friends are also drawn to. FINISHED.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Amy? Amy, can you hear me?"

The Doctor yelled at Amy as he carried her back to the TARDIS. They had been exploring the planet, walking through a dense forest when suddenly out of nowhere; someone used a blowgun and shot a dart into her neck. Amy lost consciousness and fell to the ground, convulsing for a moment before she passed out and became still. Since then, the Doctor and Rory had been running hell for leather back to the TARDIS before something else happened. They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor managed to snap his fingers. The doors flew open and the Doctor ran inside, trusting Rory to shut the door as he ran through the console room to the med bay.

"Amy, can you hear me?" the Doctor said as he laid her on the examination table.

He gently opened her right eyelid and noticed her pupil was dilated. He asked the TARDIS to run a scan and a red light swept down her body from a metal scanner machine mounted above the table. The scan finished and the Doctor read the findings on a small monitor on the right side of the machine. He grimaced when he saw that Amy had been hit with a slow acting poison. Reading that the poison was Datrium, he rushed to his cabinets to find the antidote.

Meanwhile, Rory stood in the shadows outside the med bay door, arms crossed over his chest, giving the Time Lord a baleful look. He snorted when he heard the Doctor mutter aloud to himself about where he might be and he decided at that moment to step inside the room.

"Oh, there you are," the Doctor said. "We need to start a drip so I can administer the antidote to Amy."

Rory bit back his rage for the moment, knowing his wife's life hung in the balance. He helped the Doctor prepare an IV bag and then he put the needle into her arm. They worked feverishly and both of them breathed a sigh of relief when the Doctor checked the scanner and noticed she had stabilized. Rory was about to say something when the Doctor patted him on the shoulder.

"Good job," he said. "Stay here with her; I need to make sure the TARDIS is secure. Be right back."

Rory nodded, annoyed that the Doctor didn't seem to notice how angry he was. He glared at the Time Lord when he ran out of the room. When he was gone, he looked down at his wife, sleeping peacefully on the examination table, a white cotton blanket over her body and a soft pillow under her head. He gave her a tender kiss on the forehead.

"I'm tired of this, I'm tired of him doing this to you," Rory murmured to her. "That bastard doesn't care about anyone except himself, doesn't care who gets hurt while he goes stumbling around unfamiliar planets. I've had it."

"Had what?"

Rory looked up and saw the Doctor standing in the doorway, a confused look on his face. Seeing him brought all of Rory's anger back and he stomped over to him.

"I've had it with you putting my wife in danger," he snarled as he jabbed a finger back at Amy. "Did you know how close she came to dying?"

The Doctor was shocked at his friend's outburst for a moment before he recovered from it.

"Yes, Rory, I'm well aware of how close she came to death. I was the one who scanned her and prepared the antidote for her and frankly, I don't like your tone of voice."

Rory's jaw dropped at that. He gritted his teeth and suddenly he slapped the Doctor as hard as he could across the face. The Doctor reeled back in shock and grunted when Rory seized him by the lapels of his jacket and jerked him back.

"I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO USE THIS TONE OF VOICE!" he bellowed. "I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE ANGRY, YOU BASTARD! YOU NEARLY KILLED HER…AGAIN! HOW MANY TIMES WILL AMY COME CLOSE TO DYING BEFORE YOU REALIZE HOW DANGEROUS YOU ARE TO BE AROUND!"

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO STAY HERE, YOU KNOW!" the Doctor raged back. "I LET YOU AND YOUR WIFE TRAVEL WITH ME BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO. NO ONE IS HOLDING A BLEEDIN' GUN TO YOUR HEAD AND MAKING YOU STAY HERE, RORY! IF YOU'RE SO CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR WIFE, WHY ARE YOU LETTING HER STAY HERE? SEEMS TO ME YOU'RE JUST AS RESPONSIBLE FOR HER NEAR DEATHS AS I AM SINCE YOU KEEP ON LETTING ME TAKE HER PLACES!"

Rory was shocked by the rage on the Doctor's face, how black his eyes looked and how threatening he looked. He let go and stumbled back while the Doctor breathed hard through his nose. His rage dimmed slightly but he was still furious and the two men stood a few feet apart glaring at each other.

The Doctor tried to get his rage under control, both anger and hurt welled up inside him and it took all he had in him not to ball up his fist and break Rory's nose. Aware that he might do that, he turned without a word and stomped away till he could calm down and cool off. Rory watched him go, his stomach in knots, knowing that the Doctor had a point about him letting Amy stay onboard and travel with him when he was constantly putting her life in danger. He slumped into a chair and fought back the tears as he reached up and took his wife's hand. He held it and stared at her quietly while the Doctor watched them from the shadows just beyond the med bay door.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

During his vigil, Rory drifted off into an uneasy sleep, his dreams plagued by images of his wife dying before his eyes the way she did the night he shot her. He only woke when he realized that someone was caressing his cheek. He blinked himself awake and looked at Amy who was now awake and giving him a concerned look while she stroked his cheek. Immediately, his drowsiness vanished as he leapt to his feet and took her hand.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't remember what happened to me except I was walking along and felt this sharp pain in my throat and I woke up here."

"You were poisoned. Someone in the trees shot a dart into your neck and we brought you back here."

"Oh," Amy said.

Rory stared at her in disbelief.

"Oh? You nearly died and all you can say is oh?" he said.

"Well, I've nearly died lots of times," Amy said.

"Yeah, I know, Amy, and it disturbs me that you're taking it so lightly," Rory said angrily. "When did you become so flippant about death? Is this what he's done to you?"

"Who?" Amy said.

Rory pointed back at the door.

"Him, the Doctor," Rory said.

"The Doctor hasn't done anything to me," Amy said.

"No, the Doctor's done plenty to you. He's changed you. From the moment you first met him, you changed," Rory said. "And it's gotten worse since you started traveling with him. Now you don't even care about your own life."

"I do too," Amy said.

"You don't act like it."

Amy sighed.

"Rory, I just woke up, yeah? I don't need this at the moment," she said angrily. "What's wrong with you?"

"Wrong with me? _Wrong with me_?" Rory said. "Nothing's wrong with me, you're the one acting barmy! I love you, don't you understand that?"

"Of course I understand it," Amy said.

"Then why don't you care that I'm upset that you nearly died a few hours ago," Rory said, raising his voice.

"Rory!"

Rory spun around and saw the Doctor standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest while he glared at him.

"Whatever problems you have with me, this is neither the time nor the place to rant and rave at Amy," the Doctor said to him.

"What problems?" Amy said. "What's going on here?"

The Doctor came into the room and sighed when Rory backed out of his way. Amy looked at her husband and looked at the Doctor, perplexed.

"What's going on here?" Amy said.

"He's upset because you nearly died," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, I get that but why is he blaming you?" Amy said to the Doctor.

"Why?" Rory said, shocked. "Because he's responsible, Amy, don't you get that?"

"No, because he's not responsible for my actions, I am," Amy said, trying to sit up.

The Doctor helped her sit up. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and glared at Rory.

"Look, I'm sorry I nearly died," Amy said to Rory. "I didn't do it intentionally. I don't even remembering it happening apart from the sharp pain in my throat. But the Doctor isn't to blame for this because I'm the one that willingly went out the door, just like you did."

"And I told you earlier that if you're so concerned about Amy being in danger, why are you allowing her to travel with me?" the Doctor said.

"Well…maybe it's time to stop traveling with you then," Rory said. "Amy and I…"

"Oh no, wait," Amy said, holding up her hand. "Amy is staying right here."

"Why? So he can put you into more dangerous situations that might kill you?"

The Doctor growled deep in his throat and Amy put a hand on his arm when he started to advance towards Rory.

"Rory, I like traveling with the Doctor," Amy said. "I know there are dangerous things out there but I accept it as one of the risks of getting to travel time and space and see all sorts of wonderful things. I don't want to leave, I'm sorry."

Rory spun on his heel and walked out of the room without further comment. Amy sighed and let her hand drop to her side.

"I…I don't know what to say to him, Doctor," Amy said as the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry I got hurt but…"

"No, it's not your fault," the Doctor said. "Whoever that was, they surprised us and Rory's upset because you nearly died. I don't mind him being angry but I don't like people pointing the finger at me and screaming in my face when everything can be handled in a civil manner. I should have scanned more thoroughly and I'm sorry I didn't."

"No, don't apologize," Amy said. "I told Rory that I accept the risks when I go out the TARDIS door and I do take responsibility for what happens to me. It's the price I pay for being here."

The Doctor nodded and gave her a hug before he urged her to lie back down so he could run another scan. While he was doing that, Rory came back into the room.

"Rory?" Amy said when she noticed his red rimmed eyes and tear stained cheeks.

"Doctor," he said. "I'd like to go back to Leadworth. I want to go home."

"Rory, no!" Amy said while the Doctor's face fell. "I'm sorry, alright. I'll be more careful in future, just don't do this."

"No, I need to be by myself for awhile," Rory said. "I'm not cut out for this sort of life. I'm not some die hard adventurer who runs headlong into danger. This is your passion, Amy, not mine. It's been your passion since you were seven. And to be honest, I sometimes think there are three people in this marriage anyway."

"Rory, Amy and I…"

Rory held up his hand when the Doctor started to defend himself.

"I don't care, I really don't. You're the one that comes first in her heart, I was always second choice," Rory said.

"No, Rory, if you were second choice, I wouldn't have married you," Amy said.

"You married me because you couldn't have him," Rory said, pointing to the Doctor. "You've always wanted him; I figured that out when you made me pretend to be him whenever we played with each other."

"So, you want a divorce, is that it?" Amy said angrily.

"I don't know what I want at the moment. That's why I need to go back home. I need to be away from all this craziness and just think for awhile," Rory said. "Will you take me home?" he asked the Doctor.

He could tell the Doctor was upset but was trying not to show it while he shrugged.

"No one's forcing you to be here," the Doctor said. "You can go home anytime you like."

"Now. Now would be good," Rory said.

Amy began to cry softly while the Doctor let out a ragged sigh and nodded. Amy glared at Rory as the Doctor went past him and left the room.

"I love you, don't you understand that?" Amy said, shedding angry tears.

"You may love me, Amy, but you love him even more," Rory said.

"I do not. It's you I want, alright? He's just a friend!" Amy said, pointing to the doorway.

Rory snorted at that and Amy threw up her hands.

"Fine, you know what? Fine. Go!" Amy said. "Divorce me if you want, I don't care! Go live a boring life in Leadworth!"

"At least Leadworth doesn't have Daleks and Cybermen roaming the streets on a day to day basis!" Rory said. "Sometimes a normal life is preferable to dying a horrible death…"

"I DON'T CARE!" Amy screamed, cutting him off in mid-sentence. "JUST GO! GET THE HELL OUTTA MY SIGHT AND RUN BACK HOME. AND BE SURE NOT TO STEP OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC AND GET HIT BY A BLEEDING CAR WHILE YOU WORRY ABOUT DALEKS ATTACKING YOU!"

Rory sighed and shook his head. He forced himself to turn and go while Amy's head fell to her hands and she wept uncontrollably. He walked up to the console room and saw the Doctor leaning against the rim of the console.

"Please don't say…" Rory said, holding up his hand.

"No, you're going to listen to what I have to say before I open the TARDIS doors because I want to have my two pence in all this," the Doctor said, cutting him off. "I'm sorry if your time in the TARDIS has led to this and you're unhappy about what's happened to Amy and to you. I know that time travel is not for everyone which is why I'm very selective about who I let travel with me. Having said that, I must tell you that I could have prevented you from traveling with me, marriage or no marriage. However, you impressed me with your courage and your willingness to stay by Amy's side even though it cost two thousand years of your life. You are in this TARDIS because I wanted you here, Rory. Whether you know it or not, you have what it takes to be a great warrior and leader and you definitely have more in you than the average person who spends his life in Leadworth leading a humdrum existence with a normal job, taxes, telly, fish and chips and sleep. I know that you and I didn't hit it off at first but I think of you as a dear friend now and someone I can depend on. You're not only hurting Amy by doing this, you're hurting me because I thought you enjoyed traveling just as much as her. I only hope you're making the right decision and I sincerely, sincerely hope that once you calm down and have time to think that you'll come back to us. Because your place is here, whether you realize that or not. Having said that, I want to give you my mobile number in case you do change your mind. And if you do, ring me anytime and we'll drop everything and come back. Is that alright?"

Rory thought for a moment and then nodded. The Doctor smiled at that, reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out his mobile. He gave Rory the number and Rory put it in his phone.

"Thank you," Rory said when he was finished and putting his phone away.

He stiffened when the Doctor gave him a hug and stood still, not returning it as he suddenly fought the urge to stay.

"Thank you for coming with me," the Doctor said, pulling back. "Thank you for helping me and I hope whatever decision you make in future about coming back or staying in Leadworth that you make the most of your life."

Rory nodded. He swallowed hard while the Doctor walked back to his console and set a course for Leadworth.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Amy wept as she sat on the examination table in the TARDIS's med bay. While she wept, her head in her hands, he felt a hand on her shoulder giving it a squeeze.

"Rory," Amy said with relief, "you came back and…"

She looked up and her spirits sank when she saw it was the Doctor with his hand on her shoulder. Her spirits sank even further when she saw the sad look on his face. She swallowed hard, trying to keep from crying again.

"Is he…is he…"

The Doctor nodded and he squeezed her shoulder when Amy's face fell.

"Why? Why did he do this?" Amy said while the Doctor pulled up a chair beside the table and sat down. "I thought he liked it here. It's not like it's the first time this has happened. And I thought he liked you, why is he blaming you for all this?"

"I think part of it is stress," the Doctor said. "This is very stressful, I'll be the first one to say that and some people don't handle stress all that well. I also think it's worrying about you and loving you so much that he wants to be protective of you, in some cases, overly protective, I think, since I think you're capable of taking care of yourself in most situations. And I think part of that protectiveness is being a bit jealous of our friendship and being a bit paranoid that we did something in his absence."

"I also think making him pretend he was you when we were growing up didn't help," Amy said.

"How did that work? What did you make him do?" the Doctor said. "You didn't force feed him bowls of fish custard, did you?"

Amy chuckled.

"No, I just would pretend I was in trouble and he would come and rescue me," Amy said with a wistful smile. "I never thought that Rory would one day actually come to my rescue and not only that but guard me for two thousand years. I do love him, Doctor, I really do."

"I know you do and I know he knows that but I think he would prefer you would just settle down and be a good little housewife."

Amy snorted.

"Fat chance of that," she said.

She let out a ragged sigh and the Doctor stood and put his hand on her back.

"What if he's gone for good?" she asked him. "What if he divorces me now because I chose the TARDIS over Leadworth?"

"Oh, I seriously doubt he'll divorce you," the Doctor said. "I gave him the number to my mobile and told him to give me a tinkle when he was ready to come back and he let me give him the number so I consider that a good sign. Just don't give up yet. Sometimes a little distance is what someone needs. I think he just needs to think without the threat of a monster jumping out at him. He loves you, Amy, and I think he'll support you, no matter what. We just need to sit down and have a nice chat when he decides to come back and I'm saying when, not if. I bet my remaining lives on that."

He looked down when the mobile in his pocket rang.

"Now see, he's already wanting to come back to us, told ya so," the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket.

Amy watched in anticipation as he pulled out the mobile and opened it up. He hit the talk button and put it to his ear.

"Rory, is that you?"

"No, but if you want to call me Rory, I'll let you, Sweetie."

The Doctor groaned.

"River, what are you doing?" he said.

"Well, I believe I'm phoning you unless you're s'posed to do something else with these phone boxes," River said. "And is that any way to say hello to me, Honey? I missed you!"

"River, get off the phone in case Rory calls me. Go back to your prison cell or wherever you are at the moment."

"Is that any way to talk to me? I found out something interesting that involves you and I escaped prison just to come and tell you about it."

"Really? What have you found out?" the Doctor said.

"Come and get me and I'll tell you. I assume that we'll have the TARDIS all to ourselves then?" she purred.

"You assume incorrectly. Amy is here," the Doctor said.

"But you thought I was Rory, he's not there?"

"No, he isn't."

"But Amy's there."

"Yes, she is."

"Well, why aren't they together? I thought those two were still in the middle of honeymoon bliss and wanted to be with one another whenever possible," River said.

"Well, I'll tell you but let me come and get you first because it's a long explanation. The short of it though is Rory is mad at me and went back to Leadworth to live a normal life."

"Really? How boring."

"Yeah, tell me about it."

"What did you do to make him mad at you?"

"I didn't do anything. Why do you assume it's me?"

"Because I know you, Sweetie," River purred.

"Yeah, right, let me change Amy's IV bag and then I'll come and get you. I need the coordinates…"

"Wait, what's wrong with Amy?" River said.

"She got hurt and nearly died which is another reason why Rory's angry at me. Just let me come and get you and then I'll tell you everything, yeah?"

"I'll be waiting, my petit chou chou," River said.

River quickly gave him her coordinates before she ended the call. The Doctor shook his head and folded up the phone.

"Petit chou chou? What's next on her list of pet names for me? Dumpling? Candy Floss? Chocolate Covered Sex Slave?" he muttered to himself as he walked over to the cabinet to get a fresh IV bag for Amy.

A half hour later, the Doctor reached River's location. She was hiding behind some rocks about fifty feet in front of the prison. The Doctor shook his head as she ran inside.

"One of these days they're gonna capture us both," he said as he hurried to the console.

"Not a chance," River said. "You can run circles around those gits. Why do you think I keep escaping? Besides, I wouldn't let that happen. No conjugal visits then," she added with a wink.

She chuckled when the Doctor blushed at that and quickly hid out of her sight behind the console.

"So," River said, changing the subject, "where's Amy? Is she okay?"

"She's in the med bay and yes, she is. If you want to go back and see her, I'll take the TARDIS into the vortex so we can talk."

River nodded and walked to the back door. The TARDIS shifted around so she was at the door to the med bay. She walked inside and smiled fondly when she saw Amy lying in a small bed at the back of the med bay. After the Doctor finished changing her bag, he moved her to a proper bed so she'd be more comfortable. Amy looked over and smiled when River came inside.

"Hey, nice to see ya again," Amy said.

"And you," River said. "I always look forward to seeing you lot. But, what's wrong with Rory? Why did he swan off?"

Amy sighed and sat up while River sat down on the end of the bed. She folded her hands in her lap while she told River what happened. River listened sympathetically to her friend, her hand on top of Amy's while Amy tried not to cry. While she was talking, River noticed movement out of the corner of her left eye and turned her head. The Doctor was standing by the door listening, he nodded and she smiled in return before turning her attention back to Amy while she finished her explanation. When she finished, River looked at the Doctor.

"We have to go get him," River said to the Doctor. "We have to go talk some sense into him."

"No, let him calm down and think things through. I don't want to force him to come back. If Amy's here, I'm sure he'll eventually come back here but for the moment, let him be. Now, what do you want to talk to me about?" the Doctor said.

"Well, as you know, my guards sometimes lend me books so I can pass the time."

"No, I didn't know that, but continue," the Doctor said.

"Well, I asked for a book on Earth history, archaeologist that I am, you know. I was reading and came across something very interesting."

"And that something interesting would be?" the Doctor said.

River smiled broadly at him.

"Guess what, Sweetie? There's a religion centered around you and you're their god."


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Oh River," the Doctor said to her. "I know you worship me, but you didn't have to go that far."

River rolled her eyes while Amy giggled.

"Trust me, the last thing I'd wanna do is stroke your huge ego by creating a religion around you," she said to him.

"Okay, so who are these people then?" the Doctor said. "It's not LINDA, is it?"

"LINDA? No, who's she?" River said with a frown.

"Not she, they, it's a group…oh never mind, long story. Anyway, who is it then?" the Doctor said.

"Well, they wouldn't let me take the book out of the prison so I had to copy what I found on a piece of paper," River said, reaching into the pocket of her brown trousers.

"Wait, you escape all the time and you're concerned that you might get in trouble if you pinch their book?" the Doctor said, amused.

River ignored that and handed him a folded up piece of paper. The Doctor glanced at Amy and sat down beside her while he unfolded it. Amy and River listened while he read aloud to them.

"In the early part of the year 2011, a religious group called the Time Lord Disciples was started by a group who were convinced a mysterious man known as the Doctor would save them from the apocalypse of 2012. The group thought that the world would end on the 21st of December, 2012 and only the Doctor could save them, taking them with him in a vehicle known as the TARDIS to a new world."

The Doctor groaned as he lowered the sheet of paper and River nodded.

"The world doesn't end in 2012. The human race experiences a spiritual shift in their thinking but it's not the biblical apocalypse. Humans, you lot are such skittish creatures. So these Time Lord Disciples, what do they do? How is this religion run? Do they dress up like me and spout off pretty platitudes that they think would be things I'd say. Do they build a TARDIS out of a refrigerator box and pray in it?"

"I don't know, Sweetie, I figured we could investigate and find out. That's what you're good at, isn't it?" River said.

"Where is this…religious group?" the Doctor said.

"London, as far as I can tell," River said. "But their members come from all over the world."

"They recruit via the internet then?" the Doctor asked.

"Don't know, I wasn't given access to the world wide web in my prison cell, love," River said.

"Fine, I'll have the TARDIS search for this group while we head to London," the Doctor said. "I believe Amy is nearly healed, this should be the last IV bag so once that's done, we can all head out and try to locate these people who think I'm a god. See ya in a moment!"

The Doctor hurried out of the room. River watched him go and then looked at Amy.

"Let's just hope when he finds this lot, he doesn't start asking them to bow down and lick his shoes," River said.

Rory walked back to his house in Leadworth, his hands holding bags filled with groceries. The old familiar sights of his home town comforted him but at the same time, his heart ached knowing Amy was still with the Doctor. Since they were married, Amy had moved into his house and her stuff was everywhere, compounding the heartache. He thought once he left the TARDIS that adjusting to a normal life again would be easy but he was surprised to find that he actually missed the steel interiors of the time ship and he was warring with himself, resisting the urge to just phone the Doctor and ask to come back. His stubborn pride was telling him to make the Doctor and Amy phone him and beg him to come back to them. Not to mention he figured Amy would have some smug comment to say to him if he came back too soon.

_No,_ he thought to himself, _I need this separation. I need to rest and think things through. _

Even though it was a separation, he didn't consider it a separation in the sense that it was one step away from divorce. He loved Amy with all his heart and divorce wasn't an option for him. He didn't know if she felt the same way but he hoped that she also wanted him and not the Doctor. He pushed images of his wife in the Time Lord's arms out of his mind while he climbed the steps to the front door of his house. He set the bags down, pulled out his key, unlocked the door and entered with the bags. He set them down on the kitchen island and walked over to the remote that was resting on the sofa. He turned on the TV, turned it to the news channel and walked back to the island so he could unpack and sort the groceries. While he put the groceries away, he was half listening to the news when something caught his attention. He paused, putting the milk in the refrigerator, when he heard the newsreader mention Time Lord. He closed the fridge door and walked over to the island, leaning on it while he stared at the TV.

"This religious group is calling themselves the Time Lord Disciples," the female newsreader said. "They're currently based in London but they have been gaining converts from around the world with the help of their website. They believe that a man called the Doctor will save them from the end of the world which is supposed to happen on the 21st of December, 2012. Speculation is running rampant about who this mysterious Doctor could be."

Rory snorted.

"I know exactly who he is. Typical that he has a bunch of nutters worshiping him and looking to him to save them," Rory said to himself. "He probably founded the religion himself, knowing his ego."

Rory was about to turn back to the groceries but he paused and turned to stare at the TV again, his thoughts conflicted again, except this time he was debating whether or not to travel to London and check out the group just to see what they were up to. He had the money to go to London but the point of coming back was to get away from investigating weird things and having a rest. But what if this group was dangerous? Rory sighed as he put a carton of eggs in the fridge and closed the door.

"You know, I'm probably gonna regret this," he said. "But I gotta make sure these people aren't dangerous and find out what they're up to. I'll go online then and see if I can find their website and find out where they live in London."

He finished putting away the last of the groceries and then went into the other room so he could go online.

Meanwhile, the Doctor hooked Amy's IV bag onto a pole so she could have mobility. River walked with her to the console room and once the three of them reached it, the Doctor asked the TARDIS to check for any information about the Time Lord Disciples. The TARDIS ran a scan and brought up their website. Amy sat on the seat and the Doctor shifted his body so she could see his monitor while River stood beside him. On the front page was a picture of their headquarters in central London. An old square two story brick building that dated to the Victorian era. Steps led up to a heavy wooden door with a small gold knocker on the front and all the windows had heavy drapes so they were unable to see anything inside it. River pulled out a pad and pen and wrote down the address under the photo. When she was done, they went through the website, searching for clues. The Doctor snorted when he saw a photo of the founder. The founder's name was Astra and he or she was wearing a heavy brown monk's robe with the cowl up over their head. A black mask was on the person's face so all they could see was the person's brown eyes. There were no other clues but the Doctor couldn't see any breasts and made a comment about that.

"She could be binding them,"River said, "or have very small breasts. Astra sounds like a female name to me."

"But don't you find it odd that this person is gaining hundreds of converts, yet he or she shows nothing of him or herself except this."

"People are worried about 2012," Amy said. "Maybe they have some information on you that helps convince them."

"They do have information on me but it's a bit sketchy. Just refers to me as their savior and has some evidence of my being on Earth through the centuries to prove that I've been there. Also has some writings from eyewitnesses that I've helped or seen me helping people on Earth. A few of the writers are people I recognize actually. But looking through this site, it seems that they don't have a current photo or drawing of me, but they do have drawings of my previous tenth life, so they know about him."

"Really? What's this drawing look like?" Amy said, standing up.

The Doctor pulled up a photo of his tenth self. It was a drawing of his head and shoulders, semi-profile since he was slightly looking to his left. River and Amy studied the drawing.

"He's cute," Amy said.

"I'll say," River said. "Have you always been this cute, Sweetie?"

"I like to think so," the Doctor said with a smug grin. "But…never mind that. I have an idea."

"We're going to go investigate?" Amy said.

"Yes, but…from what I've seen, they have no current photos or drawings of this body. Which means I might be able to pose as a new recruit and gain entry that way. And I didn't see any evidence of you or River, so you might be able to go in as well. The three of us will pose as ordinary humans who want to join their cult, since I have a feeling it is a cult, and we try to find out as much as we can about it before we shut it down. Sound good?"

"You know me, I love an adventure," River said.

"Amy, will you be strong enough to do this?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yeah, I'm fine now," she replied.

"Brilliant. So…the three of us will brainstorm and come up with cover stories so we can keep our stories straight while we're inside. Then when we're ready, we go to London and become Time Lord Disciples."


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"What am I doing? I must be insane," Rory muttered to himself as he drove his car towards London. "I told everyone I was coming home to get away from things like this and here I am, diving right back in again. I need my ruddy head examined."

He shook his head.

"But If this group is connected to the Doctor and if they're looking for him, then Amy might be in danger as well and I can't let anything happen to her, not when I can stop it. The Doctor can look after himself but Amy needs me. And I suppose that's the reason why I'm going."

He sped up slightly, determined to make it to London so he could infiltrate the Time Lord Disciples and find out what was really going on before they hurt Amy or anyone else.

Meanwhile, inside the TARDIS, the Doctor finished slipping into a slightly dirty white t-shirt that the TARDIS had provided for him. He, Amy and River decided to pose as three homeless people who had just heard about the group. The Doctor knew that some cults wanted their members to give all their possessions up to them and the last thing he wanted them to have was the TARDIS. He also figured being homeless would excuse them from having to explain where their home was. In addition to the t-shirt he also put on some battered and faded blue jeans and some dirty plimsols. He checked his appearance in the mirror and made a face. He prided himself on his appearance and hated looking shabby. But for the sake of the ruse, he was willing to put up with the slightly soiled and old clothes he was wearing. He took another look in the mirror and frowned as he touched the top of his head. Something was missing, he felt. Then he suddenly decided he needed a ball cap for his head. He asked the TARDIS to produce one for him. There was a flash and a slightly dirty red ball cap appeared on his head. He looked himself over and nodded before going downstairs. He met Amy and River in the console room. Amy had on an old red plaid shirt and blue jeans and River had put on blue jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. Both of them were wearing old white converse and both of them had pulled their hair back into a ponytail. The Doctor shot Amy a look when she chuckled at his outfit.

"Yes, I know it's not my normal outfit but not many homeless people walk around in bow ties and tweed jackets," he said. "Right, now that we're disguised and we have our stories worked out, let's go pay this cult a little visit."

Amy and River stepped back while the Doctor set a course for London. They landed about thirty feet away from the building in a nearby alley. The house sat on the corner and looked more cheery than it did in the photo. The three of them stepped outside and the Doctor closed the door behind them before they headed across the street. The drapes were still drawn so they couldn't see inside and there weren't many people around the building. As they went up the steps, they saw a little gold plaque beside the door that said TIME LORD DISCIPLES in etched black lettering. The Doctor used the knocker and knocked four times before waiting for a reply. A moment later, the door was opened and a young woman wearing a long white robe peeked out at them. The cowl was down and they could see she was in her early twenties with shoulder length red hair that was cut into a bob and dark green eyes. She was wearing black wire rimmed glasses that complimented her oval face and had a dimple on her rounded chin. Besides the robe, she was wearing white trainers and a small silver chain bracelet on her left wrist.

"Yes? May I help you?" she said, keeping the door half open.

"My name is James," the Doctor said. "This is Marie," he said, pointing to River, "and this is Cecilia. We want to join the Time Lord Disciples."

The woman studied them, her eyes taking in their dirty and disheveled appearance. She frowned.

"Where do you come from?" she asked.

"Central London, we're…uh, homeless," the Doctor said with feigned embarrassment.

"We've had a rough time," River added. "We're tired of civilization and we believe that the Doctor can take us to a better place. So can we join?"

"Well, you'll have to speak with Astra, only she can approve your entry into our group," the woman said.

"How soon can we do that?" the Doctor asked.

"Wait here, I'll let her know you're here," the woman said.

River gave the Doctor a smug grin when the woman shut the door.

"See, told ya it was a woman," she said to the Doctor.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, rub it in," the Doctor said.

River grinned and leaned into his ear.

"I'll rub it in and rub in a few other things along with it," she purred.

"Okay, wait, let's not do this right now," the Doctor said, holding up his hands. "Because I don't want her coming back and seeing us with our clothes off, okay?"

River shrugged and winked at him while the Doctor stuck his hands in his trouser pockets. Thirty seconds later, the door opened all the way and the woman beckoned to them.

"Astra will see you now," she said to them.

"Lovely, lead the way," the Doctor said.

The woman let them come inside and the three of them looked around. The interior was dark since the drapes were all closed. They could make out a wooden floor and dark wallpaper, a closed oak door off to their right and in front of them was another door. This was one was open and a lone lamp was on in the other room, allowing a bit of light to flood into the front room. Beside the open door was a brick fireplace but judging from the lack of wood, it hadn't been used in awhile. Apart from that was a couple of high backed chairs, a sofa and a wooden coffee table in front of it but they couldn't make out anything else in the dark room. The woman led them into the other room which was equally dark but they could see a bit more due to the lamp. There were several tan suede chairs and a television in the corner. Off to the side were two steps leading up to an open doorway. The woman took them up it and they turned and went up a staircase to the next floor. Reaching the first floor landing, they turned to their right and went through another open door. Then they turned right and went down a hallway. There were several closed oak doors on either side of them and they could hear conversation coming through some of them along with the smell of ham and potatoes that hung heavy in the air around them. As they passed by one open door, they looked in and saw two metal frame beds. On one of the beds sat two dark haired girls, both of them teenagers, one Caucasian, the other black. They stopped talking when they passed by and the Doctor waved at them. The girls said nothing and the woman guided them away from that door to another room that was the last one on the right. The woman knocked on it and they heard a female voice asking them to enter. The woman opened the door and the Doctor, Amy and River followed her inside. Inside this room on the right side was a huge wooden canopy bed with a white canopy on it. There was a white duvet on the bed and an oak chest of drawers was beside it along with a folding screen that had song birds and Japanese calligraphy on it. On the left side of the room was a white suede chair and a small oak table with a large white ceramic lamp on it and some books and papers. Next to that was an open door that led to an adjoining bathroom. Astra was coming out of the bathroom and looked at them. She had on a white robe similar to the one the woman was wearing but her cowl was up and she had a black colored face mask on.

"That'll be all, Amber," Astra said to the woman.

Amber bowed and the Doctor, Amy and River backed up to let her pass. The Doctor felt Astra's eyes on him and turned his head. Astra was standing to the side of them studying them quietly. The Doctor was about to say something when Astra suddenly turned, walked over to the chair and sat down. She beckoned to them and the Doctor glanced at his friends before they walked over and stood in front of her.

"So, you wish to join my group?" Astra said.

The Doctor frowned when he heard her voice again. It sounded so familiar, too familiar. In fact, it sounded like…He shook his head.

_Can't be,_ he thought to himself.

"I must ask you a few questions before I consider you for admittance," Astra said to them.

"Yes, but…" the Doctor said. "Could you take off the mask and cowl? I like to know who I'm speaking to."

"Yes, the mask is a bit much," River said. "I don't think there's any danger of us revealing who you are. I'm sure we don't even know your true identity."

The Doctor wasn't sure about that but he just had to see Astra's face and be sure. His stomach lurched as Astra shrugged, lifted her hand to her face and grabbed the mask. The Doctor felt like everything was going in slow motion as Astra pulled off the mask and then pulled down the cowl. He took a step back in shock when his suspicions were confirmed and he saw Rose sitting there. A million questions swirled around his mind like a whirlwind and he fought back the urge to take her in his arms and kiss her. Rose glanced at him and for the first time, he understood what River must have felt when his tenth self looked at her and didn't know who she was because there was no sign of recognition on his former lover's face. The Doctor wondered if he should tell her who he was but River spoke before he had a chance to.

"What exactly do people do here?" River asked. "You worship the Doctor, how? Hold church services?"

"We revere the Doctor as our savior," Rose said mildly. "He is the one who will save us from the apocalypse in 2012."

"And what if there's no apocalypse?" Amy said.

"Then we carry on," Rose said with a shrug. "There are always other things threatening Earth. The Doctor is our savior and protector. He is our only hope."

The Doctor suddenly realized why there were no current photos or drawings of him on the group website. Rose had seen photos of his past lives but since she had no idea he'd regenerated, she'd only be looking for his tenth self and before and more than likely, if she did stumble across photos or drawings of his current life, she wouldn't recognize it as him. He wondered why Rose felt the need to create a religious cult around him though. She'd always loved and admired him, but worshipped him? And where was his clone? Was he around, perhaps one of the cult members? He decided for the moment to keep his identity secret until his questions were answered. Rose asked them questions about their background and they all told her that they had become homeless about a year ago after a fire and they were trying to get back on their feet but hadn't been able to do it and they wanted to join the group because they believed the Doctor was the answer to their problems. Rose listened quietly to their stories and the Doctor kept having to fight to still his beating hearts, half afraid that Rose would hear the double beat. She looked the same as she did when he left her on the beach with the clone and he felt himself falling back in love with her after managing to compartmentalize his feelings and stick them away in one section of his mind. Seeing her here, only a few feet from him, brought all those emotions back to the forefront and he desperately hoped that the clone was nowhere in sight so he could have her all to himself.

The moment he thought that, he suddenly had a feeling and dread and glanced at River standing beside him. All the time that he had known River, Rose had been out of the picture so there never had been any danger of the two of them meeting one another. However, River made it very clear that she had a relationship with him, possibly even a marriage, and he suddenly felt unease having these two women in the same room with him. Not to mention Amy had expressed her love for him in the past and he wasn't entirely sure that her marriage to Rory had dampened those feelings for him. He suddenly had an image of the three women in an enormous knockdown, drag out catfight while he tried in vain to pull them apart.

Rose finished her questions and sat for a moment in thought, her fingers drumming the arm of the chair while the three of them waited.

"Normally, I don't take homeless people," she said to them. "I prefer to have an actual address to verify your identity. But…I have some space here and I'm going to trust my instincts and admit you."

"Thank you," the Doctor said, relieved.

"I'll let Amber show you around and tell you the rules," Rose said. "She's been here awhile so she can bring you up to date. We have supper at 6 and we have a group meeting downstairs in the sitting room at 8 before we retire for the night. Attendance is optional at the meal but you must be at the group meeting, is that understood?"

The Doctor, Amy and River nodded. Rose smiled, stood up and shook their hands. The Doctor kept his body stiff when Rose shook his hand and smiled at him.

"Right, welcome to our group," she said. "Now if you'll wait here, I'll go get Amber so she can give you the tour."

The Doctor watched with longing as Rose turned, headed to the door and walked out in search of Amber.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

When Rose returned with Amber, they were carrying robes, two white and one black. The Doctor assumed the black one was for him and his suspicions were proven right when Rose handed it to him. As she came up to him, their eyes locked and the Doctor felt like his insides were turning to goo. He remembered that Rose had once told him that she could see his old self reflected in his eyes just after he regenerated. Would that be the case now? He both hoped for and dreaded the moment when she found out who he was.

"Men wear black robes, women wear white," Rose said to all of them after she and Amber finished passing out the robes. "We want you to wear these here, it makes us all equal. That's how the Doctor views us."

The Doctor heard River let out a soft snort but she didn't say anything to Rose as she accepted the robe. Rose asked Amber to show them around and Amber asked them to follow her. Amy and River followed her as she walked to the door but the Doctor lingered behind. Rose gave the Doctor a confused look when she noticed he wasn't following the women.

"Yes?" she said to him.

"Thank you for letting us stay," the Doctor said, loving the sound of her voice.

"Uh…you're welcome. I just hope you adjust to life here, we do have rules. It's not like living out on the street."

"I understand. Thanks again," the Doctor said.

They locked eyes again, the Doctor hoping she could see who he was in his eyes but all he got from her was a confused look so he decided not to press his luck in case Rose threw him out for being weird. He excused himself and hurried to the door where the women were waiting for him. Amy gave him an odd look and River gave him a suspicious glance and what the Doctor swore was jealously. He tried to be casual about it all while he told Amber he was ready to go but he knew by the look River gave Rose that he needed to be careful if he decided to reveal himself to his lover. He'd watch River kill without a second thought and he had no idea if she'd harm Rose but he had no desire to find out. He glanced over his shoulder at Rose who was standing by her chair, watching them go. He waved at her but Rose did nothing, just stared at him silently. The Doctor walked outside the room with everyone else and Amber turned left.

"Up here are the sleeping areas," Amber said to them. "We have two empty rooms so the two women can room together and the man can sleep alone. Women and men have segregated sleeping areas so if you're thinking of having a go at someone while you're here, think again."

She stopped at one empty room with two black metal framed beds, lamp, table and chest of drawers.

"Either the man or the women can have this room," Amber said to them. "Do not open the curtains for any reason, if you need light, turn on the lamp. Who wants this room?"

"I'll take it," the Doctor said, knowing he was only two doors down from Rose.

"Very well, go in and change into your robe and I'll show the women their room," Amber said.

The Doctor went into the room and shut the door. He let out a sigh as he leaned against it.

"Oh, Rose. Why are you doing this?" he murmured. "What would you have to gain by creating a cult around me, even if you do believe I'm mankind's last hope? Something's very wrong here; you'd never do this, not voluntarily anyway. I have to find out what's going on and save you from yourself."

The Doctor stared at the black robe in his hands, shook his head sadly and stepped away from the door so he could slip it on.

Rory stood beside the door of the Time Lord Disciples house, checked the address once more to be sure and then used the knocker. He knocked three times, stuffed the address back in his pocket and waited for someone to come to the door. A few minutes later, the door opened and Amber peeked out.

"Yes?" she said.

"Hi, I'm interested in joining your group," Rory said.

"Blimey, we're busy tonight," Amber muttered to herself. "Okay, wait here a moment, I have to talk to Astra."

Rory nodded and waited patiently while she closed the door. While he waited, Rory looked around but could only see a few people near the building. He looked at the window beside the door and gulped when he saw the drapes covering it.

_Who knows what barmy things they're doing in there?_ He thought to himself. _I have to stop these nutters or at least alert the authorities before they do something crazy._

The door opened again and Rory smiled at Amber. The smile faded when he saw who was standing behind her. Dressed in monk's robes, Amy, River and the Doctor stared at Rory in silent shock. Rory tried to keep his composure and avoided their gazes while he stepped inside.

"I'm in the middle of a tour at the moment for these three," Amber said, gesturing to the stunned people beside her, "but I'll take you upstairs and let you meet Astra."

"Thank you," Rory said.

He glanced at the Doctor who mouthed, "What are you doing here?" to him. Rory shrugged and the Doctor glanced at Amy and River before everyone turned and followed Amber. While they walked up the stairs, Amy glanced back at Rory and Rory smiled at her.

"Why are you here?" she mouthed to Rory.

"I'm here for you," he mouthed back.

Amy smiled at that and Rory gave her a discrete squeeze on the hand before they reached the top. Amber led them to Rose's room and gestured for Rory to go inside. Rory glanced at his friends and walked past them, stepping inside the room while everyone watched him. Once he was inside, Amber closed the door and beckoned for them to follow her while she finished the tour.

After the tour, the Doctor, Amy and River went to their rooms. Amy and River were staying two doors down from the Doctor on the same side as he was. The Doctor went into his room, closed the door and shook his head.

"Great, now Rory's here. Rose is back, Rory's here, what's next, the clone turns out to be my roommate?" he said, glancing at the empty bed beside his.

He heard a knock on the door and walked over. He opened it and saw Rory standing there.

"I'm rooming with you," he said.

"Is this going to be an amicable arrangement or are you going to jump down my throat again," the Doctor said softly.

"I'll keep it civil," Rory said.

"Good. Then come inside," the Doctor said, stepping back.

Rory thanked him and came inside, a black robe slung across his right arm. He stared at the Doctor's black robe and chuckled.

"Thought the fez and bow tie were odd. Never thought I'd see you as a monk," Rory said after he closed the door.

"Yeah, well, you're going to be a monk right alongside me. Why are you here though? Thought you had enough of this sort of thing."

"I did too but I heard a news report about this place and I wanted to make sure that these people wouldn't do anything to hurt Amy."

"And that's it then? No concern for me? None for River? They can hurt us all they want as long as Amy stays safe?"

Rory sighed.

"Of course I'm concerned about you and River but Amy comes first in my heart, always has, and I worry about her first and foremost."

"Good. That's the way it should be. However, I want to bury the hatchet with you, here and now. I want us to room together without being at each other's throats. How about it? Friends again?"

"Friends," Rory said.

The Doctor smiled and hugged him and this time Rory returned it. He tried to apologize and the Doctor held up his hand.

"No need, I do understand your fears for Amy's safety. But you do understand that she wants to be here and she knows the risks, yeah?"

"Yes. And I respect that. I want her to be her own woman and not be controlled by me."

"Ah, mate, I don't think anyone could control her," the Doctor said, patting his shoulder.

Rory chuckled at that and the Doctor patted his back. Happy that his friend was back and not angry at him anymore, he settled down on his bed and relaxed while Rory changed into his robes.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Rory finished putting on his robe and made a face.

"Ugh, this thing is heavy," he said to the Doctor. "We have to wear this thing all the time? I think I'm gonna sweat to death."

"On the other hand, it acts like a comfy blanket and you can sleep in it," the Doctor replied with a cheeky grin.

Rory lay back on his bed and stared up at the ceiling while the Doctor, in the bed across from him, did the same.

"So, we find out what this Astra is up to and stop her?" Rory said, glancing at the Doctor.

"Yes, but…"

"But?" Rory prompted when his friend fell silent and stared up at the ceiling.

"Rory, can you keep a secret," the Doctor said, turning on his side.

Rory turned on his side and faced him.

"Yeah," Rory said.

"I need you to keep what I'm about to tell you secret for the moment. You can't tell Amy and River."

"Okay," Rory said.

"That woman out there, the one who calls herself Astra, I know who she is."

"Really? Who is she?" Rory said, raising up on his elbow.

The Doctor was about to say something, then had a thought. He held up his finger and put it to his lips as he got up from the bed. He pulled up his robe and reached into his trouser pocket. He took out his sonic screwdriver and did a quick scan. He read the results and nodded.

"Okay, no bugs or hidden listening devices or hidden cameras, we can speak freely," the Doctor said softly as he put his screwdriver back in his pocket. "Anyway, the woman's name is Rose Tyler."

"Okay," Rory said while the Doctor put his robe back down and lay back down. "Friend?"

The Doctor hesitated and Rory frowned at that.

"Enemy?" he guessed.

"No, she's a friend, traveled with me and…"

"And?" Rory prompted, sensing his friend's hesitation.

"And…she was my lover," the Doctor said.

He turned his face to Rory, gauging his reaction. Rory stared at him in silent confusion.

"But…" Rory finally said, pointing to the wall," I thought River was your lover."

"I have no idea what River is to me since she won't tell me," the Doctor said, rolling on his side. "Rose, however, is a different story. She and I were a couple until…she got trapped in a parallel universe."

He briefly filled Rory in on Rose and what happened to her, finishing up with him leaving her with the clone. Rory listened in a fascinated silence since he rarely heard the Doctor discuss his past, not to mention his love life.

"So, you see, I left her there with my clone," the Doctor said. "And I thought the universes were sealed but apparently Rose found a way to get back…again."

"And that's a bad thing?" Rory said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side. "You don't love her anymore?"

"I do love her but she can't keep hopping across universes like this. There's a risk she could destroy both our universes if she's not careful. Not to mention the fact that she might have brought that clone with her and the last thing I need is another version of me running loose here. That's why I left her there with him, to look after him and make sure he didn't muck up things. I can't give her the life she wants, Rory. She wants me to be domestic and be there for her the rest of her life and possibly marry her and make babies and I can't do that. I'm a Time Lord, I never age and I told her that. I don't wanna go through the pain of watching her grow old while she wastes away and dies. So, I gave her a half human version of myself because he can give her what I can't but apparently she doesn't want him and wants me, even though this clone is me in every way except for the one heart and the humanity."

"But what if she's here against her will, Doctor?" Rory said.

"Yes, I thought of that as well and I'm leaning towards that actually since all this is not her style. She would never create some sort of bizarre religion in my name. She's been possessed before by a women called Cassandra. Cassandra took over her body and Rose acted strange when she did which is how I sussed out that there was something wrong. I'm thinking it's happened again because this isn't what Rose would do," he said, waving his arms around.

"So, why am I keeping this a secret?" Rory said. "Why aren't you telling Amy and River."

"Because I'm afraid if they find out about our relationship, both of them will get jealous and confront her. Especially River since the woman seems to love violence and the last thing I want is for her to put her fist in Rose's face because I love her more than River. Just wait till we find out what's going on before we tell them, yeah?"

Rory nodded and the Doctor thanked him while he lay back down. Rory lay down and stared up at the ceiling. Suddenly, he had a thought and rolled onto his side.

"So…if Rose is back, are you going to resume your relationship with her?" Rory asked him.

The Doctor stared up at the ceiling while he thought that over.

"I'd love to, but…"

The Doctor let out a frustrated sigh and put his hands over his face.

"Augh, it was much easier when my traveling companions were strictly friends," he said through his hands. "Even if I tell Rose no, there's always River to consider. Apparently, she and I might end up married and…"

He took his hands away from his face.

"I do something in future where I tell River my real name. I don't know what it is but it must be something monumental because I don't tell people my real name. And I know she knows because she whispered my name to me in my ear as proof. So apparently, my future self trusted the woman enough to tell her something I haven't even told Rose."

"What if River is a future version of Rose then?" Rory blurted out.

The Doctor froze at that and then shook his head.

"No, that would be impossible. Rose would have to change her body to look like River and in order to do that, she'd have to be a Time Lady and I assure you, Rose is human."

"But what if something happened to change that?" Rory said. "Is it possible for a human to become a Time Lord…or Lady?"

"Not that I know of," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "I had a friend, Donna, who turned into half a Time Lord with a Time Lord mind and it nearly killed her. I had to wipe every trace of me and our adventures from her mind just so she wouldn't burn up…"

The Doctor suddenly froze.

"Burn…up…" he murmured, staring off into the distance.

"What is it?" Rory said.

Rory gave his friend a confused look when the Doctor got up and paced the floor in front of his bed.

"Doctor, what is it?" Rory asked.

The Doctor stopped and came over to sit beside him.

"When I was in my ninth life, we were trapped on this satellite by the Daleks, I sent Rose away so she'd be safe but she, like always, was determined to get back to me. She managed to open the console and looked into the core which is the heart of the TARDIS. The TARDIS possessed her and she became an entity known as Bad Wolf. She came back and saved me by basically disintegrating the Daleks but it essentially turned her into a god because she had supernatural powers that no human should possess. The energy was starting to hurt her and I took it out of her body and put it back into the TARDIS and taking that energy into my body burned me up and I was forced to regenerate. The thing is, when I took the energy inside me, my body began to break down almost immediately but Rose was able to keep the energy inside her for at least a half hour before it started bothering her. What she did should have killed her outright the way it killed me, but it didn't. And now since you brought up this theory of River, I'm starting to wonder if Rose might be able to regenerate without having Time Lord DNA. Perhaps, the Bad Wolf is all she needs…"

The Doctor fell silent again and after a moment, shook his head.

"River didn't show any recognition of her though," he said. "If Rose is River's past…"

"But River's hidden things from us," Rory pointed out. "You know, spoilers and all that."

"Yes, I know," the Doctor said angrily. "Which is why we'll never know for sure, at least not for awhile until it's time for her to reveal those damn spoilers to me. Even if I held her feet to the flames, she wouldn't say if this theory of ours was correct. She won't even say for certain if we're married. So…I'm afraid, Rory boy, that we might have to put this theory on the back burner for now until River finally tells us who she really is. Right now, our priority is finding out if something's happened to Rose and if so, rescuing her from it. Not to mention finding out if my clone is around here somewhere since I haven't seen him yet. Unless, he's behind one of these doors. We're supposed to have a group meeting at 8 tonight so I'm assuming if we all have to go to it so will he."

"Do you think if you went and talked to Rose and revealed yourself to her that she might explain what's going on here?" Rory asked.

The Doctor thought that over.

"I'm tempted to but if she's being possessed by someone, this whole thing might be a trap. That's why we all used aliases. Well, I had to have one anyway but River and Amy are using aliases as well."

"Really? I used my real name, d'ya think I did the right thing?"

"I think it'll be okay. She doesn't seem to recognize me and if she doesn't, she won't know the people traveling with me right now so I think you're safe," the Doctor said. "But, FYI, I'm James Dodge, River is Marie Smith and Amy is Cecilia Black. So be sure to use those names among these people."

Rory nodded and the Doctor patted his shoulder.

"Listen, let's have a lie down until 6. That's when they call us for supper. We can chat later on tonight after the meeting."

Rory nodded. The Doctor smiled before he got up and went back to his bed.

Meanwhile, Rose was in her room, preparing to lie down on her bed for a quick nap. While she was in her bathroom using the toilet, she suddenly heard her master's voice inside her mind calling to her. Her eyes unfocused as she stared at the wall across from the toilet.

"Astra," the voice said.

"Yes, master?" she said aloud in a dull voice.

"I need you to find out all you can about the four newcomers," the voice said. "I have a feeling there's more here than meets the eye. I think they may hold information about the Doctor. I want you to be discrete but find out if they know him."

"Yes, master," Rose said.

"Good. Go ahead and have a nap but after the meeting tonight, get to know them better and find out all you can about their backgrounds," the voice said. "Especially the one called James. Get close to him, if you can."

"Yes, master."

"Good. Now obey."

The voice faded away and Rose blinked her eyes a couple of times. She frowned, getting the sense that something just happened to her but she couldn't remember what it was. With a mental shrug, she finished peeing, flushed the toilet and went to wash her hands.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Rory?"

Rory's eye snapped open and he saw the Doctor standing over him. The Doctor smiled at him.

"They're ringing a bell, calling everyone to supper, feel like going?" he asked him.

"Yeah," Rory said.

The Doctor stepped back while Rory got up. He straightened his robe and followed the Doctor to the door. They opened it and saw River and Amy standing in front of their door. Rory smiled warmly at Amy and was about to go to her but froze when Amy gave him a look that could freeze the sun and walked towards him.

"So, thought you were done with this sort of thing," Amy said, getting in his face. "Thought youwere goin' back to Leadworth so you didn't have to deal with monsters and crazy stuff anymore."

"Amy, listen," Rory said, holding up his hands.

"No, you listen to me. I don't appreciate my husband walking out on me with the excuse that he can't stomach being one of the Doctor's assistants, only to show up later claiming that he came to investigate whatever's goin' on here. So if you hate dealing with monsters and nutters, why are you here? Huh?"

"Pond," the Doctor said, stepping over to her.

"I just wanna know why he's here when he said he needed to have a rest and get away from this sort of life," Amy said to him.

"Because I want to know what's going on here because I'm concerned about you," Rory said to her.

"Okay, that's another thing that's getting on my last nerve," Amy said to Rory. "This constant need you have to protect me. I'm not a helpless waif, Rory. I can look after myself, yeah? You don't have to rush to my side at the first sign of danger and…"

"Amy," the Doctor said, stepping between her and Rory. "I understand you're angry and trust me, this will get sorted out later but for now, we need to concentrate on sussing out what's going on here. Now I've called a truce with Rory, so the two of us can work together without fighting and I suggest you do the same. There are more important things to worry about right now, yeah?"

Amy nodded.

"Yeah," she said.

"Not only that," River said softly, stepping up behind Amy, "but Rory didn't come here with us so we're not even supposed to know him and it'll look a bit suspicious if you're arguing with him when you're not even supposed to be married. So I agree, leave it for now and concentrate on the situation at hand."

Amy nodded and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The Doctor suggested they all go to supper and they followed him to the dining room that Amber pointed out earlier. Most of the other people had gone by the time they got out the door and as they passed by the open doors, the Doctor glanced inside, wondering if he'd catch a glimpse of the clone but all the rooms were empty. They walked downstairs and turned right, going through a couple of rooms before they reached the dining room. Inside the room were two small tables. Above the table on the right side was an elegant crystal chandelier that provided the lighting for the room. The floor was made of wood and the walls were covered with blood red wallpaper but there were no pictures or ornamentation of any kind. The Doctor paused and stared at the people sitting at the tables that had plates, silverware and glasses on them. Besides Amber, there were four other women and two men, none of them older than thirty. The men were sitting at the table on the left while the women were sitting at the table on the right so the Doctor deduced before Amber spoke up that the men and women sat at separate tables. He looked at Rory and they went to sit with the other men while Amy and River sat down beside Amber. While they sat down, Rory looked around at the other people.

"Is this it?" Rory asked. "Eleven people? Where are the others?"

"This is everyone," Amber said. "We only have eleven members at the moment, twelve if you count Astra."

Rory looked across the table at the two men, one was a black man in his late twenties and the other was a Caucasian man with sandy blonde hair that looked like he was nearing thirty. Rory leaned in to the Doctor's ear.

"Either one of these men that clone you mentioned?" he whispered to the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head.

"He's not here," he whispered back. "And Amber just said that everyone is here except Rose so either my clone didn't come with her or he's somewhere else."

Amber got up from her seat and the two men did the same thing. They told everyone they were going to bring the food in and they'd be back in a moment. Amy and River chatted with the four women across from them. There was a black woman with long black hair that looked like she was barely out of her teens, another Caucasian woman in her teens and two women in their twenties. One of the Caucasian women was chubby and had pasty skin and shoulder length red hair. Another woman, the other teenager, was petite with brown hair in a pixie hair cut, a baby face and green eyes. The third had jet black hair that went down to the small of her back, a thin face and brown eyes the glimmered in the light. To the Doctor, she seemed like a Goth except she wasn't wearing any dark makeup. But just the same, she reminded him of one. From listening to River and Amy, he found out the chubby one's name was Victoria, the black woman's name was Shakira, the petit woman's name was Judith and the Goth woman's name was Cheryl. The Doctor waited with Rory, listening to the women's conversation while he kept looking behind to see if Rose was going to come and eat with them. Ten minutes later, Amber came back inside with the two men. They brought in a plate of bangers and a bowl of mash and set them on the women's table. They went back and forth bringing in a second plate of bangers and bowl of mash for the men. They also brought in coffee and tea for everyone and once they were done, everyone helped themselves. The Doctor speared a couple of bangers and put them on his plate and spooned some mash onto it. He glanced at the men.

"I'm James," the Doctor said to them.

"I'm Rory," Rory added as he poured some tea into a mug.

"I'm David," the black man said with an American accent.

"Frank," the other man said with a nod.

"Where are you from?" the Doctor asked as he poured some tea into his mug.

"Detroit," David said.

"Weston-Super-Mare," Frank said. "How about you?"

"London," the Doctor said.

"Same," Rory replied.

"Nice to meet ya," David said.

"And you," the Doctor said. "You've come a long way just to join this lot."

"Yeah, someone showed me the group's website and I started doing some research on this Doctor guy. I thought it was a bunch of bullshit at first but then after reading about him and seeing photos and drawings of him throughout time, I started to believe that maybe the Doctor could save us. There is that rumor that he was the one that saved us a couple of years ago when the Earth was moved and those Dalek things invaded the Earth. If he could get rid of those things and move the Earth back to its original orbit, I figure he'll be able to save us from the end times. They're nearly here, you know. Just like it says in the Bible."

The Doctor nodded at that, not wanting to comment on Earth religions. He never put much stock in any of them, especially not in the whole notion of end times and apocalyptic battles. There were plenty of apocalyptic battles waiting in Earth's future that had nothing to do with the Biblical Revelation. They spoke to Frank, asking his reasons for joining the group. Frank swallowed a mouthful of mash before speaking.

"Because I agree with David, after all I've seen in the past couple of years, I think the world is in danger and it seems to me that this Doctor bloke is the one who might save us. As for those tin robots a few years back, I lost a couple of mates to them. One of them was shot during the initial invasion. The other was taken for "testing", never saw him again after that."

The Doctor winced, remembering the humans disintegrating into nothing while he stood there helpless and watched. He wished he could tell Frank what probably happened to his friend but then he thought maybe it would be better if he didn't know the truth since it was horrifying even to him. David and Frank asked them about themselves and the Doctor stuck to his being homeless story while Rory told them a modified version of the truth, that he lived in Leadworth, saw the group being profiled on the news and became interested in them. All the time they were chatting, the Doctor kept turning his head, seeing if Rose was coming. Finally, he asked the two men about her. David shook his head.

"Astra never eats with us," he said while Frank nodded in agreement. "We don't really see her that much, truth be told. She keeps to herself except for the nightly meetings."

The Doctor noticed Frank looking around and leaning in. He and Rory leaned in and Frank began to whisper to them.

"Me and David room together and sometimes we hear a man's voice coming from the room," he whispered. "Until you lot came, we were the only men here. Whoever it is tries to be quiet but the voice carries. We tried to ask Astra about it and she wouldn't tell us anything, said it was none of our business. She's weird, that one. If she wasn't our leader, I wouldn't have anything to do with her. Something about her is just strange, otherworldly even."

The Doctor nodded. He wondered if he could arrange it so he and Rose were alone so he could speak with her. He was still debating on whether he should reveal himself to her but at the very least, he wanted to question her and find out what the real purpose was behind this cult. He also wondered if this mysterious man was his clone and if so, where was he now? He made a mental note to investigate with his friends whenever he got the chance.

After supper, everyone helped clear the tables and clean up. Once the tables were wiped down and the dishes were washed, everyone went back up to their rooms. The Doctor and his friends hung back and waited until the others went to their rooms. Then they went upstairs and headed towards Rose's room. The Doctor and Rory had told the women about the man's voice coming from her room. He didn't tell the women about the clone since they would have asked what his clone was doing with Astra and that would have led to him telling them about Rose and he wasn't ready to tell them about her yet. When they reached the second floor, they looked around but everyone was in their rooms with the door closed. They could hear some of them laughing and talking behind their doors. They quietly walked to Rose's room and when they reached it, they stopped and listened but couldn't hear anyone. They waited a couple of minutes before the Doctor reached down and began to pull up his robe.

"What are you doing?" River hissed at him.

"I'm going to see if anyone's in the room," the Doctor hissed back. "If Astra's in there, I'll tell her I have a question. I just want to see if this mystery man's in the room with her."

He took his screwdriver out of his pocket figuring the door might be locked. He tried the doorknob and his suspicions were confirmed. He looked around and River came up beside him.

"Go ahead," she whispered to him. "We'll keep a look out for the others."

The Doctor nodded and unlocked the door with the screwdriver. He slowly turned the knob and everyone gathered around him, keeping watch on the other doors while the Doctor opened the door wide enough so he could slip inside. Once inside, he looked around while he silently closed the door but the bedroom was empty. He slowly walked to the bathroom door and looked in but no one was there. He relaxed a bit and held his screwdriver in his right hand while he looked around the room. His eyes fell on the table and the pile of papers there and he walked over to it. He sat down in the chair, going through them. Most of them were order forms for supplies or schedules but halfway through the pile, he froze when he came upon a photograph. He picked it up and stared at it. It was a photo of Rose and his clone since the man that resembled his tenth self was wearing a grey jumper that the Doctor had never seen before. They were standing together, his clone's arm around Rose while they smiled for the camera. At first glance it looked like a photo of a loving couple until the Doctor noticed the Rose's smile seemed forced while the clone had a smug look on his face. The Doctor held the photo closer to his face and stared at Rose's cheek. He could see the hint of a bruise there. He looked at the forced smile his lover had and then his clone's smug look and anger slowly began to burn in his mind when he began to get a thought about who might have given her that bruise.

"I swear, if you've hurt her…" the Doctor growled through clenched teeth while he stared at the photo. "If you've been abusing her all this time, I'll hunt you down and make you sorry you were ever born."

He glanced around, pulled up his robe and put the photo in his trouser pocket. He put the papers back the way he found them, making sure they didn't look out of place. Then, he hurried to the door and quickly left the room.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Once they got back to their room, the Doctor closed the door and pulled up his robe. He took out the photograph, sat down beside Rory on his bed and showed it to Rory while he quietly explained where he found it and what he thought was going on in the photo.

"So, you think he's beating her?" Rory said when he finished speaking.

"I don't know, I hope not," the Doctor said. "All I know is I know Rose well enough to know that she's not smiling naturally in that photo and the way he's holding her, it's not a loving hold, it's more like a possessive hold like he's thinking, "Mine!"

"But it's your clone," Rory said, confused. "Isn't a clone like the original?"

"Yes, but his DNA merged with Donna's DNA so he's not exactly like me, personality wise. He looks like me and thinks like me but he was filled with anger and that led him to commit genocide," the Doctor said as he gazed at Rose in the photo. "When I took him back to the other universe, I entrusted him to Rose because after Gallifrey was destroyed, I was also filled with rage. Rose helped me heal and I thought perhaps she could do the same with him. But…"

He fell silent and Rory looked at him. The Doctor's eyes were ablaze and his jaw was clenched.

"If he has been beating her," he said through clenched teeth as he stared at his clone, "he better run and run far because I will make him regret each time his fist landed on her body. I'll pay him back for each time he hit her a thousand fold."

Rory looked at the barely contained rage on his friend's face and he didn't doubt that his friend would carry out that threat. His eyes drifted down to the photo and he stared at Rose. He thought she was beautiful. In the photo, she had on a baby blue t-shirt and a black leather jacket which looked far better on her than the big heavy white robe.

"It's my fault."

Rory looked at the Doctor when he heard him speak. He was gazing at the photo, guilt written all over his face.

"It's my fault, Rory. I did this to her," the Doctor said, looking at him.

"No, wait, don't blame yourself for this," Rory said.

"I should blame myself because I'm guilty," the Doctor said. "It's my fault that she ended up with him. She wanted to come with me and I was a coward and made her stay with him because I couldn't bear the thought of watching her grow older and die while I was powerless to stop it. I fell in love with her and allowed her to fall in love with me but I was too cowardly to commit to a proper relationship and now because of me, she's with somebody who is probably abusing her."

"But you can do something about it now; you regenerated so if he's here, he doesn't know what you look like. You can use that to sneak around, stop him and get Rose away from him," Rory said.

The Doctor nodded. He fell silent for a moment and then he jumped up.

"Oh no, oh no, no, no," he said.

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"River," the Doctor said.

"What about her?"

"I first met River during my tenth life and the clone was created after that happened. That means that he has memories of River and what she looks like. He hasn't met the rest of us but River…if he sees her here…"

"What do we do?" Rory said.

"Dunno. Eventually, we're going to have to confront him and I'm gonna have to tell Rose who I am and try to get her away from him. I have a feeling he's the mastermind behind all this, not her."

"Then…" Rory said, "what if this cult isn't centered around you, it's centered around him."

The Doctor froze for a moment and then sank back down on the bed.

"You might be right," the Doctor said to him. "I can picture that more easily than I can picture Rose doing this for me. But even if it is about him, I have a feeling it's still meant to lure me to him, otherwise why did they come here and start this cult rather than stay in their own universe. And how did he convince Rose to do this? She must be under some sort of mind control; she'd never do this willingly. Rory, I need to talk to her alone and see if I can find out what's going on. It's risky but I have to tell her who I am so I can let her know that there are people here who can help end this and help her escape."

"What about tonight after the meeting?" Rory said.

"Yes," the Doctor said with a nod. "I'm sure after that; everyone retires for the night, including her. I'll wait till she goes to her room and go to her."

"Well, what about River and Amy, are you going to tell them who she really is?" Rory asked.

The Doctor let out a sigh.

"Yes. They need to know the truth and what we might be up against. I don't think Amy will be jealous, it's River I have to worry about."

"Let me talk to them," Rory said. "While you're in there with Rose, I'll sneak into their room and tell them and try to calm down River if she flies off the handle."

"Thank you," the Doctor said. "I hope we can sort this out quickly and bring this whole cult nonsense to an end. Now see, this is why you need to be here with us. You're not meant for a normal, boring life, Rory. You're part of the team so I'm asking you to come back to us. We need you, mate."

"I want to but…it's just sometimes the stress wears me out, that and all the death and horror and monsters and evil people. It gets to be a bit much."

"Which is why I frequently go places where I can chill out and have a rest and get away from it all. You can do that as well, mate. If you need to stop and take a breather, let me know. I'm not some brutal dictator that won't let you and Amy go somewhere and recharge your batteries. Just let me know when it gets to be too much. But truthfully, I think the longer you stay with me, the easier it'll get to handle everything. Most of my companions were the same way when they started traveling with me."

"What about Amy? Do you love her?" Rory asked.

"I care for her and I did have romantic feelings for a bit but she's your wife and I'm not coming between you and her. Besides, I have Rose and River, I don't need Amy," he said, giving him a little playful punch while Rory chuckled. "You're lucky, mate. You only have one woman in your life and you don't have to worry about a second woman throwing a jealous fit if you tell her you love your wife. I tell ya, I'm not looking forward to sitting River down and telling her I love Rose."

"Perhaps you could marry them both?" Rory teased.

"Uh…no," the Doctor said while Rory chuckled. "I don't think River is the sharing type and actually, neither is Rose. That definitely wouldn't work out. It's gotta be one or the other and until River tells me exactly who she is, my hearts belong to Rose."

He patted Rory on the leg and went back to his bed. Lying back down, he stared up at the ceiling while Rory laid back and did the same thing. Eventually, Rory drifted back to sleep and woke up when the Doctor shook his shoulder.

"Bell again, it's time for this meeting," the Doctor said to him.

Rory nodded. He got up and followed the Doctor out the door. When they stepped outside, they saw the others drifting out into the hall.

"Alright, everyone follow me so the newcomers know where to go," Amber called to them.

The Doctor glanced back over his shoulder at Rose's door but it was still closed. He turned his attention back to Amber as she led everyone to the stairs. They went downstairs and went into the kitchen. On the right side was a closed door that led to the basement. Amber had shown it to them on their tour but didn't take them downstairs. Now she pulled a key out of her trouser pocket, unlocked the door and opened it. She flipped the light switch that was just inside and to the left of the door and she led everyone down twenty concrete steps to a large concrete basement. The Doctor wrinkled his nose at the slightly musty smell as he looked around. The basement was about 40 by 40 foot. Near the back was a large stone table with a wooden chair behind it. On the table were two red candles in gold candlesticks, a large leather bound book, a gold goblet and several items that were under a piece of black satin cloth. In front of the table were three rows of black sofa cushions with five cushions to a row. Amber told them to sit on the cushions and the Doctor and his friends sat down in the back row while the others sat down around them. Everyone waited and then to the Doctor's surprise, a door shaped section of the wall swung out with a heavy groan and Rose emerged from a secret room. The Doctor and his companions tried to see what was in the other room but there was no light inside so they had no clue what the room was used for or how big it was. Rose closed the wall back and turned to them. She had her cowl up but wasn't wearing her mask. The Doctor narrowed his eyes, searching for any signs of bruising or abuse but all he could see was her face and hands and both of them looked okay.

_Doesn't mean he couldn't have beaten her and made her hide the evidence beneath that bloody robe,_ he thought to himself as anger briefly flared up in his mind.

Rose walked over to the table and opened the book to a place that had been marked with a long red bookmark.

"The Doctor is our savior," she intoned. "In this world filled with darkness, he is our only hope."

While she spoke, the Doctor looked at her eyes, seeing if they were unfocused but she seemed lucid. He knew thought that there were ways to hypnotize someone and still have them acting normally. As she went on with some ritualized sermon about how the Doctor was great and glorious and would save them all, he began to wonder if his clone was in the other room. He could picture him standing in there in the darkness, perhaps watching and listening through a secret hole in the wall. He longed to go back there, open the door and if he was back there, shake him senseless before putting a fist in his face.

His attention turned back to Rose when she took the piece of satin cloth off the items and he saw three vials of liquid, one red, one blue and one black. He frowned, wondering what they were. Rose picked up the vial with the red liquid.

"This represents the Doctor's blood," she intoned as she held it up. "The blood that keeps his twin hearts beating."

They watched while she poured the liquid in the goblet. She set the empty vial down and picked up the one with the blue liquid inside.

"This represents his TARDIS," she intoned.

"What the hell is this rubbish?" River hissed in the Doctor's ear. "What does this ritual have to do with you?'

"I s'pose it represents the blood that powers my twin hearts and the blue of my TARDIS," the Doctor whispered back.

"I think it represents the fact that Astra needs to be sectioned," River muttered.

The Doctor ignored that remark while he watched Rose pick up the last vial.

"The black represents the darkness in this world that the Doctor will overcome," Rose intoned before she poured the liquid into the goblet.

She set the empty vial down and picked up the goblet. She swirled the contents around briefly, mixing the red, blue and black liquids together. Then she held the goblet up above her head before lowering it and drinking the contents.

"Okay, what is she drinking?" the Doctor muttered under his breath. "Yet another thing we need to investigate. Because I have a feeling that's not colored water in those vials."

Once she was done drinking, she lowered her head and everyone did the same. The Doctor and his companions lowered their head with everyone else and listened while she prayed to the Doctor to rescue them all. Once she was done praying, she dismissed everyone. Everyone rose from the cushions and started back up the stairs. The Doctor shared a glance with Rory and he nodded.

"Good luck," he mouthed to him.

The Doctor nodded and Rory beckoned to River and Amy. The women looked over as they followed Rory and saw the Doctor heading towards Rose who was putting the cloth back over the empty vials and the goblet.

"Um…Astra, might I have a word with you, just briefly?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yes," Rose said. "Actually, I wanted to speak with you anyway. Would you follow me back to my bedroom?"

The Doctor nodded, checking her eyes. He noticed she still looked lucid but he kept wondering what Rose had just drank from the goblet as she beckoned to him and he followed behind her while she walked towards the stairs.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Amy and River walked back to their rooms while Rory followed behind them.

"That Astra is a nutter," River muttered to Amy. "Are we gonna have to attend that rubbish meeting every night? Because if we are, I'm not staying here. I'll find a hotel room."

"Hopefully, it won't take too long to sort all this out," Amy replied. "I just wish we knew who Astra was and where she came from."

"Um…actually…I know."

The women turned and stopped while they stared at Rory. Rory stopped with them.

"The Doctor knows her, told me everything about her," Rory said.

"Really? Why didn't he tell us then?" Amy said.

"Because…"

Rory sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He looked around and noticed everyone was going into their rooms.

"Look, the Doctor is going to talk to Astra and I told him that I would talk to you and tell you what I know while he's doing that," Rory said. "So…can we go in your room and I'll let you know what the Doctor told me."

The women nodded. Rory looked around; making sure no one saw him go inside before he followed them into the room. While Amy was closing the door, a man stepped up to the door of an empty room that was beside Rose's room. He watched the door close and an evil grin spread over his face. He let out a soft chuckle before stepping back and closing the door.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was following Rose back to the stairs. When they reached the stairs, Rose went past them and the Doctor followed her into the kitchen.

"Would you like some tea?" Rose said, glancing over her shoulder.

"Um…yes, that would be lovely," the Doctor said.

"I thought it would be more comfortable if we chatted here," Rose said, reaching up into a cabinet for the tea. "I told you before I don't normally accept people without a proper address, but there was just something about you…"

"That told you to trust me?" the Doctor said.

His hearts soared when she nodded and he resisted the urge to take her in his arms. Rose motioned for him to sit down and he sat down at the end of the table, watching closely while Rose made their tea.

"How long have you been doing this?" the Doctor asked her. "You don't have many members. I was under the impression that there were more than eleven people here."

"We just started," Rose said, glancing over her shoulder.

"We?" the Doctor said, raising his eyebrow.

"Yeah, we. All of us here, we just started this group. But it will grow bigger, I'm sure of it," Rose said.

She put the mugs of tea in the microwave to warm them up while she went to get milk out of the refrigerator.

"But why are you so sure the Doctor will be the one to save you from this apocalypse, if there even is an apocalypse coming," the Doctor said.

"I thought you believed," Rose said, setting the milk on the table. "You told me you came here with your friends because you believed the Doctor would save us all."

"Yes, but I still have my doubts," the Doctor said as Rose turned off the microwave and took the mugs out. "There are horrible things happening all the time that the Doctor hasn't saved us from."

"That's because there are some things the Doctor isn't mean to interfere in," Rose said.

"Okay, so what if this 2012 thing is another one of those can't meddle with deals then?" the Doctor said. "What if he can't save us?"

"Then we must accept that," Rose said, bringing the mugs to the table.

The Doctor thanked her and poured a bit of milk in his tea while Rose sat down beside him.

"So," the Doctor said as he sat the milk back down on the table, "have you ever met the Doctor?"

"No."

The Doctor paused with the mug halfway up to his lips.

"No?" he said, lowering the mug.

"No, I've never met him," Rose said evenly. "Why? Do I look like I have done?"

She frowned when the Doctor didn't answer, only sipped his tea.

"You know, I get the sense that there's more to you than meets the eye," she said.

"There is," the Doctor said. "And you're right, there is more to me, including the fact that I know who you are and I know more about you than you think."

"Oh really?" Rose said. "So what do you know then?"

"I know your name isn't Astra," the Doctor said.

"So what is my name then?" Rose said.

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor said.

To his surprise, Rose shook her head without any hesitation.

"Sorry, that's not my name. My name is Astra," Rose said.

"No, your name is Rose Tyler. Your mum's name is Jackie and your dad is Pete. You have a younger brother called Tony and up until recently you were stuck in a parallel universe."

Rose laughed.

"That's good. You have a good imagination," Rose said before taking a sip of tea.

She lowered her mug when the Doctor scooted his chair closer and stared directly into her eyes. Rose averted her eyes, trying to avoid his piercing look.

"What was that you just drank, down in the basement?" the Doctor said.

"Just colored water," Rose said with a shrug. "It's part of the ritual."

"No, I don't believe for one moment that it was colored water. I think it's something more. In fact, I'm willing to bet it's something to suppress your memories."

"Look, I'm not this Rose Tyler person. You have me mistaken with someone else," Rose said.

"Not unless you're a clone with a wiped memory or a robot that's been programmed with a different personality and I'm pretty sure you're a non-cloned human."

Rose gave him an odd look.

"Look, I think you and your friends should go," she said.

"Where is he, Rose?" the Doctor said, leaning closer.

She tried to avert her gaze but he took hold of her chin and made her look at him.

"My clone, where is he?" the Doctor said to her.

"What? Clone? What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?" Rose said.

"I am the man that took your hand in Henricks and told you to run. I'm the one that showed you time and space in my TARDIS. I'm the one that left you in a parallel world with a clone of myself."

He paused to let what he said sink in. Rose shook her head emphatically and denied she knew him. The Doctor suddenly had a thought and before Rose could react, he put his hands on either side of her head.

"What are you…"

Rose trailed off and fell silent, sitting quietly while the Doctor entered her mind and took a look. Anger flooded his mind when he saw that someone, probably his clone, had entered her mind and sealed off her original memories, replacing them with a false identity. He used his skills at hypnosis to seal off the Astra identity and bring her original memories back to the fore. Once the Astra persona was out of the way, the Doctor took his hands down and Rose blinked her eyes as if she was just waking up from a deep sleep. She looked at the Doctor in confusion.

"Where am I?" she said. "Who are you?"

The Doctor took her hand and repeated what he said a moment ago. Rose stared at him for a moment while the Doctor gave her a tender smile. Then to his surprise, she jumped up, knocking over her chair in the process. The Doctor stood up and held out his hand.

"Rose, it's me, it's the Doctor," he said gently. "I regenerated but it's still me. What's happened to you and where's my clone?"

He paused when he saw the fearful look on her face.

"Rose, it's me," the Doctor said. "I'm still me, I promise. I came here with my current traveling companions because I want to know why you've started this cult. Is it him? My clone, is he behind this?"

Rose tried to bolt for the door but the Doctor quickly grabbed her.

"Rose, what's he done to you?" the Doctor said, holding her arms. "Why are you so afraid of me? Is it because of him?"

"You don't want me," Rose whimpered in a child-like voice. "You want me to go away."

"No, no, I don't," the Doctor said, his hearts aching when she began to tremble. "Rose, I'm sorry, truly I am. I made a mistake when I left you with him but I never wanted you to think that I never cared for you because I do. Don't run away, yeah? Stay here with me. I can help you. Just tell me where he is. He's hurt you, hasn't he? I saw the photo mixed in with your papers in your room. The one where he's got a grip on you and you have a bruise on your cheek…he beats you, doesn't he?"

"Let me go, please, I don't want you anymore," Rose whimpered.

"No, I don't believe that. I think that bastard's made you believe that. He's been brainwashing you, hasn't he? Is that what that liquid is that you drank? Does it help him brainwash you?"

"You leave me. You always leave me alone. I don't want you anymore," Rose whimpered.

She struggled a bit, trying to get away while the Doctor enveloped her in a loving embrace. But once she was in his arms, he could feel the resistance fading away and she grew quiet. The Doctor smiled tenderly and held her to him, breathing in her scent, the scent he loved so much. Once she was still, her body near his, he lowered his lips to the top of her head and gave her a gentle kiss. He watched for any sign of fear, but she stood there quietly, her breathing calm although she stared straight at his robe and not up at his face. He watched her, studying her while she stood there. She wasn't returning the embrace but she wasn't trying to wiggle out of his arms either which gave him hope. He let out an angry sigh, imagining what his clone had told her to bring her to a point where she was afraid of him. He continued to watch her while memories of that day on Bad Wolf Bay came flooding back to him. He winced when he remembered his previous self telling Rose "Does it need saying?" when she asked her to tell her what he meant to say when she first became stranded in the other universe. Then he thought about what she had said to him when she was frightened of him. How he didn't want her anymore and how he would always leave her. He then remembered what he said to Kazran Sardick about Abigail, how he shouldn't make the mistakes he made and he suddenly realized what it was he had to do. He lowered his mouth to her ear.

"I love you," he whispered. "I'm sorry it took me three lives to say that but I do love you, Rose. I always have and I always will."

Rose began to weep softly and the Doctor held her close to him, burying his face in her hair. He whispered over and over that he was sorry for abandoning her, hoping that was helping to counteract whatever lies the clone had told her. He kissed the top of her head when he heard her weeping coming to an end and she became quiet again while he held her close. Then Rose looked up at him and the Doctor stood still, smiling lovingly at her while she touched his cheek and ran her finger down to his chin, gazing at him quietly.

"You're not ginger," Rose finally said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and his hearts leapt when Rose giggled at that.

"Yeah, I noticed that as well," the Doctor said. "But apart from that, what'd ya think about this body?"

"I like it. You're younger though."

"I noticed that too," the Doctor said.

"You came back to me," Rose said softly.

"No, you came back to me," the Doctor said. "Or I s'pose we came back to each other. This whole thing you said about the universe never being able to keep us apart, I think you were on to something there since we seem to end up back in each other's arms."

"But…you'll leave me again," Rose said sadly.

"Not this time. I have finally learned my lesson and I won't leave you again," the Doctor said.

He smiled at her and ran his fingers down the side of her hair when Rose searched his eyes for confirmation of that. Rose raised her hand and tentatively put her fingers against his lips. The Doctor closed his eyes and kissed her fingertips. His hearts nearly burst with joy when she heard him whisper his name to him.

"Rose," he whispered back. "My Rose."

He opened his eyes and noticed Rose was looking around nervously. His jaw clenched when he guessed what she was looking for.

"Where is he, Rose?" he said angrily. "Where is that bastard? I want to talk to him and…"

"No," Rose whispered, putting her hand on his mouth. "Please come with me. We have to hide before he finds us."

The Doctor reached up and took her hand away from his mouth.

"I can protect you. You have nothing to fear from him," he said.

"He wants to kill you," Rose whispered.

"Well, isn't that a coincidence because at the moment I wanna kill him. So I s'pose the feeling's mutual."

"He's in the house right now," Rose whispered to him.

"Where?"

Rose pointed up and the Doctor looked up at the ceiling. He suddenly had a bad feeling that his friends were in danger.

"Doctor…" Rose said, trying to break out of his embrace.

"Yes, we'll go somewhere safe but I have friends up there and I want to make sure he's not doing something to them. Let's go upstairs and get them and then we can get out of here, yeah?"

Rose nodded but he could see the fearful look on her face. He held her close and kissed her cheek.

"Whatever he's done to you, he won't do it again, I won't let him," he said in her ear. "Just trust me, okay?"

Rose nodded and the Doctor smiled before he gently kissed her lips. His hearts skipped a beat when she kissed him back and he gave her loving look when they finished. He let go of her, took her hand and they headed towards the stairs.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

As they walked to the stairs, the Doctor's hearts felt like they were doing flip flops in his chest. Rose was back with him, just like old times. But question after question burned in his mind. He wanted to know what had been going on for the past couple of years, how he abused Rose and how he managed to get back to his universe. He figured all this was a plan for revenge but he never thought that Rose would be a part of it. He had always been protective of Rose, the way Rory was of Amy and that's why he could never fault his friend for his anger at his wife being put in danger. He always worried about his friends; after all they were his surrogate family. But some companions were like special little jewels to him and Rose was a great big diamond that should be cherished and protected. That's why it floored him that his clone would ever raise a hand to her. Donna's DNA ensured that there were some personality differences between them but never in his life would he ever think of beating Rose, even when he was filled with anger like he was. That's why he not only wanted to find out what was going on but also, there was the need to avenge Rose and make the clone pay for daring to hurt her.

"So, my clone, is he referring to himself as Doctor then?" the Doctor said softly to Rose when they reached the stairs. "Figured with his ego, he might be."

"He was but then he stopped and made me start calling him by this odd name," Rose said with a frown. "Valeyard. Can't imagine where he got the idea to call himself that but…"

She trailed off when she noticed that the Doctor had froze and was now in shock.

"Rose, we need to get everyone out of here right now," the Doctor said as they went up the stairs. "The situation is even worse than I thought and we need to stop my clone right now!"

As they neared the top of the steps, they slowed their steps and the Doctor's senses went on red alert as he looked around for his clone. He carefully stepped onto the first floor and looked around. Several doors were closed and he could hear conversation behind it. Rose came up behind him and he pointed to Amy and River's room before they crept silently towards it. The door was closed and the Doctor listened but he couldn't hear anyone. He stopped at the door and slowly turned the knob while Rose looked around. When the knob was turned all the way, he hesitated a moment and then flung open the door. They looked inside and saw that the room was empty.

"Okay, Rory said he was going to talk to them and tell them about you so maybe they're in his room, I hope."

The Doctor and Rose walked down the hall to Rory's room. But when they reached it, the door was standing wide open and no one was inside. The Doctor cursed under his breath.

"Rose, where is he?" he whispered to her. "I think he might have Amy, Rory and River now."

Rose pointed to the closed door across from her room.

"Stay with me, I don't want to lose you again," the Doctor whispered to her.

Rose nodded. She took his hand and smiled when the Doctor squeezed it. The Doctor smiled and put his lips to her ear.

"Still a perfect fit," he said.

He kissed her forehead when Rose's eyes teared up. Rose kept close to him while he lifted up his robe, took his screwdriver out of his pocket and put his robe back down.

"And another thing, these robes are pants. We need to have a talk with him about his fashion sense," he said to Rose as they crossed the hallway.

They paused at the door and the Doctor tested the doorknob. He found it was locked and used the screwdriver on it. He sensed Rose's fear rising and he squeezed her hand.

"No one will hurt you, I promise," he whispered to her.

Rose nodded and the Doctor kissed her forehead before he turned his attention back to the door. He did the same thing he did with Amy and River's room, slowly turning the doorknob and then flinging it open. The room was completely dark so both of them went in slowly, the Doctor using his screwdriver as a torch until they reached a brass lamp on the other side of the room. They looked around but no one was in the room with them. There was a large bed with an oak frame against the right side of the wall and a small oak nightstand beside it. The walls were painted white and on the wall at the back was a mirror in a black frame. Under it was a chest of drawers and beside the door was a desk and wooden high backed chair. The Doctor and Rose stepped inside and the Doctor closed the door.

"What next?" he asked Rose. "Where would he be?"

"There's a hidden door in the floor beside the chest of drawers," Rose said, pointing to the floor. "It leads down to that basement room that I came out of earlier."

"What is in that room? Was he back there tonight?"

"No, he was up here," Rose said. "But…"

"Yes?"the Doctor said as they walked over to the chest of drawers.

"He keeps torture devices back there, stuff he's found in shops and also at the Torchwood in the other universe."

"Does he use them on you?"

Rose looked at the floor and the Doctor sighed angrily.

"Where is this door, Rose, so I can put my fist in his face," the Doctor growled.

"It's my fault, Doctor," Rose said to him.

The Doctor did a double take.

"Your fault?" he said in disbelief. "How could him abusing and controlling you possibly be your fault?"

"Because I stayed with him and allowed it to happen," Rose said, staring at the floor while the Doctor put his hand on her shoulder. "You told me to look after him and try to make him better so I stayed with him and put up with his abuse because I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Oh, Rose," the Doctor said. "I didn't mean for you to stay with him if he was torturing and abusing you."

Rose swallowed hard while the Doctor embraced her.

"I just wanted to carry out your wishes. That's why you wanted me to stay with him," she said softly as tears welled up.

"I'm sorry, Rose. For the thousandth time, I'm sorry I did this to you," the Doctor said.

"I thought he'd change so I kept on trying to make him better. But he used it to his advantage and told me that you abandoned me and no one would want me except him. He convinced me to move out of the mansion into a small flat and then he started manipulating me after he got me alone with him, just playing mind games and making me believe that the only future I had was with him and he was the only one who would ever love me. This went on for a year and a half with him abusing me and then apologizing and telling me he'd change if I'd just help him. At the end of two years, I lost all my confidence and self esteem and he moved us father away from London, out into the country and then he started hypnotizing me. He told me he was taking us back here, after he modified the dimension cannon so it could get us back without waiting for a weakening in the void. But…he wants you, not just for revenge, he wants your lives. He said he knows a way to take your regenerations from you so he can keep on living past his current life. Is that true? Can he really do that?"

"Yes. There are ways to do that. The Master tried to do that to me during my eighth life and I'm sure he got the idea from his memories of that. If that's the case, he'll want the TARDIS since he needs my Eye of Harmony and I'm sure he'll stop at nothing to get that."

"Yeah, he told me he wants your TARDIS," Rose said.

"Then we better make sure he doesn't get it. Now…where is this secret door?"

Rose knelt down and pointed to a hole in the floor. The hole was long and big enough for a person to put their fingers in. Rose put her fingers in the hole and pulled up, revealing a hole in the floor. The Doctor put his hands under the wooden door and quietly guided it so it was on the floor beside the opening. He looked in and saw concrete steps leading down into darkness. Rose walked over to the nightstand, opened the drawer and pulled out an electric torch. She handed it to the Doctor and he clicked it on.

"Stay near me," he told Rose.

She nodded and followed him down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs was a dark wooden door. The Doctor glanced at Rose.

"It leads into that room," Rose whispered.

The Doctor nodded. He tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. He started turning it.

"I know you're there, no need to be sneaky about it."

The Doctor froze and his jaw clenched when he heard his clone speak through the door. He looked back at Rose and gave her a reassuring smile when he saw the fear in her eyes.

"Stay close," he said softly.

"I intend to," Rose replied.

The Doctor laid his hand against her cheek for a moment before he turned the knob and opened the door. Unlike earlier, the room was now lit up with long white candles in several gold candelabras. The candelabras were spread around the room, giving off ample light. The clone was sitting in a wooden chair across the room from the door. He was dressed all in black with black trousers, t-shirt, leather jacket and shoes. He still looked the same and he gave the Doctor an amused grin when he stepped through the door with Rose.

"So this is the next life, eh? Or have you managed to cock it up a few times and I'm looking at your last life," he sneered.

The Doctor ignored him. On the floor to the clone's right were Amy, Rory and River. All of them were unconscious and tied up. Behind them was a large metal table with leather straps on it and a large black bookcase that had several knives and torture implements displayed in it. Beside the bookcase was a large black steamer trunk. The brass along the edges of the trunk gleamed in the firelight. The clone followed the Doctor's gaze when he looked at his companions.

"No worries, they're okay…for the moment," the clone said airily. "I'm guessing these are the current crop of companions, although River is a surprise. So…are you two married yet?"

"No, she's just a friend," the Doctor said.

"P'eh, not the way she acted," the clone said. "Still, if you want to carry on a romance with a doomed woman, be my guest. I'll hold on to the little lady standing behind ya."

"I believe you've had her for long enough, mate," the Doctor said with an icy tone of voice.

"Oh really? So, now suddenly you want her back after you gave her to me and ran your little cowardly bum back into your TARDIS? You handed her to me that day which means she's mine."

"Well, I've changed my mind, especially after I saw and heard about all the abuse," the Doctor said.

"So, what is the difference between you and me then?" the clone said.

"I don't understand," the Doctor said.

"I figured that. So, old man, let me explain. You accuse me of abuse yet you've abused her since day one. You constantly put her life in jeopardy, relied on her to do dangerous things for you, led her on and made her believe you loved her but never had the guts to come out and say it. So you played games with her emotions and in the end you swanned off and left her with a clone. And now you accuse me of abusing her."

"I didn't beat and torture her!" the Doctor snarled.

"You tortured her by playing with her emotions," the clone said, getting up from the chair. "For months after you left, I had to listen to her weeping and crying, wondering what she did to upset you. But you do as you always did and cared for yourself and yourself alone. Doesn't matter if your friends get their hearts broken as long as you save bloody face, eh? You honestly think Rose is better off with you? You had your chance and you gave her up to me, now she's mine!"

"You lay one finger on her and I'll break it," the Doctor growled at him.

"You lay one finger on me and I kill them," the clone said, pointing to Amy, Rory and River. "And I'll do it without a moment's hesitation, ask the Daleks."

"What's gotten into you?" the Doctor said. "Why are you acting this way? And why are you calling yourself the Valeyard."

"Um…maybe because that's who I am," the clone said, sauntering towards him. "And why am I acting this way? Because it's better than being a wimp? Because it's fun? Shits and giggles? Who knows? I just figured I might as well be the Time Lord I was born to be, the one who controls time instead of time controlling him."

The Doctor winced at that, remembering his brief descent into Time Lord victorious madness. The clone noticed the wince and raised his eyebrow.

"Strike a nerve just then?" he asked. "I'm sure you've had your moments of wanting to be more than just a goody-two-shoes time traveler, eh? After all, that's what Time Lords were meant to do, rule over time and space and the lesser beings. Which…is what Rose is so I'm ruling over her, as is my right. And…I'm sure I'll be ruling over them as well," he added, pointing to his three captives. "Haven't decided what I want done with them yet. However, the ginger is very sexy, I must say. So…possible concubine there? I'm sure River would jump at the chance to be my concubine and…nerdy boy…like I said, haven't made up my mind about their fates yet. As well as the fates of the idiots who joined this little club. The ones upstairs who think you're gonna save us all. Might just brainwash them. I could use some servants while I set off on my quest to dominate the Earth and become a benevolent but firm guiding force for the apes."

"Cor, you've gone off your trolley, mate. Even I was never this arrogant," the Doctor said with disgust.

"Well, the way I see it, it's like that old Earth feminist joke about God creating man and looking at him afterwards and thinking I can do better, so he created woman. So...whatever controls the universe looked at your pathetic carcass and thought I can do better and hey presto, here's little old me! The new and improved version of you! I quite like myself actually, especially since I have a glimpse of what comes next. Ugh! I will definitely have to make some improvements when I'm in your body."

"And that's the plan, eh? Gonna take my body for your own?" the Doctor said. "You do know the Master tried that and failed, right?"

"Yes, but here's the thing. I'm not the Master. The man couldn't carry out a plan if he had someone doing it for him. I, on the other hand, will succeed. And you are going to come willingly or all four of your little friends, lovers, pals, fuck buddies or whatever you call them will meet a most grisly and horrifying fate. So, here's the question of the hour, old cock. Are ya gonna give yourself up and nobly sacrifice yourself to save them or watch while they scream, writhe in pain and die slowly? Choice is yours, old man, and if I were you, I'd choose wisely."


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"Well," the clone said when the Doctor didn't answer, "I'm waiting. There is a time limit on this, you know. Got things to do and I can't sit here all day waiting for you to think of a way out of this. Busy, busy, busy."

"Supposing you do succeed and take my body, how do you know you'll still be able to regenerate if you die?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't. But I'm willing to take my chances. Now…I believe I said there was a time limit and I do mean what I say and I will carry out my threats if necessary. Ask Rosy Posey if you don't believe me. I'm sure you guessed that her robe is hiding all sorts of little love touches I gave to her. Bruises and scars and welts and even a few burn marks."

"And that's why I'm gonna kill you for abusing her," the Doctor snarled at him.

"Now, now, I wouldn't call it abuse. More like correction. See, you said yourself that humans were stupid apes and that's what she is, a stupid ape. And like any animal that needs to be trained, sometimes a bit of correction and discipline is needed. And it worked. Until you came along, she was doing everything I told her to do. Now…about this time limit…"

"What was in that goblet?" the Doctor said. "What did she drink?"

The clone sighed and gave him an annoyed look while he mimed tapping an imaginary watch on his wrist.

"I'll answer your little question, I just need a few answers of my own first," the Doctor spat out. "What was she drinking? Something to enable you to keep her under your power?"

The clone gave him four sarcastic claps.

"Now see, you didn't need me to suss out what I was doing," he said. "Yes, it was a special blend that I came up with that kept her from rejecting her new persona. Astra. You might recognize the name, by the way. Named her after Princess Astra, the one Romana used as a template when she regenerated. Astra was part of the Key to Time and I thought it fitting since Rose was a part of my overall scheme to take over the Earth. Plus, Astra had a nice cosmic ring to it and since she was supposed to be the head of a cult of Time Lord worshippers, that was also fitting. And I actually got the stupid bitch to keep on dosing herself night after night without me prompting her or pouring it down her throat. I'm so filled with jaw dropping brilliance, I could just pop! Now, any more annoying questions, Brainiac?"

"Yes, why are you doing this? You're not evil," the Doctor said.

"I'm not?" the clone said sarcastically as he slapped himself on the forehead. "Blast, and I just sent away for my Evil Rulers and Dictators Club membership card. There goes that fifteen quid for dues since I'm really not evil. What a tragic waste."

"You're not the Valeyard," the Doctor insisted.

"I'm not?" the clone said, slapping his forehead again. "Blast, and I just applied to the I Am The Valeyard Club and…"

"The Valeyard was destroyed during my sixth life, you can't be him," the Doctor said through gritted teeth.

"Yes, but the Valeyard had to get his start somewhere, didn't he? Which means I'm the start and that means, I haven't been destroyed yet. And as for your trial, I know what's going to happen now so I'll make certain you are executed. Wait, that would create a paradox though, right? Blast, hate when that happens. So anyway, your answer? Because I do have ways of persuading you to stop asking your asinine questions and concentrate on surrendering to me."

"Just stop this. I can help you," the Doctor said, trying to buy time.

"Help me?"

The clone threw back his head and laughed.

"Help me, how? By throwing me out the door of your TARDIS with a woman who didn't even want me?"

"I thought you wanted her," the Doctor said, pointing to Rose. "I've only got one life, Rose Tyler, I can spend it with you if you want, wasn't that what you said to her?"

"Yes, it was, and I did try to make our odd little arrangement work out. But that was before I spent two months listening to her wail and babble about how much she missed you while at the same time trying to convince her I was like you in every way. You know how tiresome it got hearing her moaning and weeping about missing you when I was RIGHT THERE WAITING TO LOVE HER!"

Rose winced at that.

"I'm sorry, I never meant to hurt you," she said to the clone. "But he just left me there and…"

The clone held up his hand.

"Heard it all before, I'm not interested," he said to her. "You can apologize all you bloody like and make excuses, you wanted him, plain and simple. I tried to be understanding but then it dawned on me that I would never be accepted. I would always be known as the clone, always second best and a charity case on top of it. So I decided to become the man you could never be, the one that controls time and space and is master of all, that's much better than being Rose Tyler's lap dog any day. Now…since you are still stalling for time which is also very annoying. Let me show you what happens if you tarry any longer. Observe."

He reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small black remote control. The Doctor noticed Rose pale at the sight of it and start to run back to the door. But the clone pressed a button on the remote before she could reach it and the Doctor yelled out in alarm as she fell to her knees, screaming in agony while she held the sides of her head.

"No! What are you doing?" the Doctor asked, falling to the ground beside her.

"I neglected to mention…in addition to correcting Rose, I also did a bit of surgery and installed a small disc inside her head that would not only allow me to communicate with her from a distance but also punish her if she got out of line. A high-pitched sonic wailing is going through her mind at this very moment which is why she's screaming like a banshee."

"Stop it!" the Doctor yelled. "I surrender! Just stop torturing her!"

"Now see, a bit of persuasion works wonders sometimes."

The Doctor looked at Rose but she was still screaming in agony and holding the sides of her head. He glared at his clone who suddenly feigned shock.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to turn it off," he said, slapping his forehead. "I'm a silly billy sometimes. I think Donna must have given me the ability to have brain farts and I completely forgot the bitch was still screaming."

He pushed the button and the Doctor rubbed Rose's back when she collapsed to the floor, gasping and sobbing.

"Mind you, that little howl was nothing compared to the howls she made after you left her behind with me," the clone said. "I was surprised she didn't shatter all the windows in the mansion with her caterwauling. Wah, wah, wah, I wish my Doctor was here and meanwhile, I was standing there waving my arms yelling at her that the Doctor was here. But I suppose Rose isn't into clones. Ah well, her loss. I still managed to have fun with her though, much more satisfying when that wailing means she's being tortured instead of her torturing me."

"You bastard!"

The Doctor couldn't stand it anymore. He leapt to his feet, ran to his smug clone and tried to throw a punch to his face. He gasped when his fist hit a forcefield that encased the clone's body. The forcefield shimmered for a moment before it became invisible again. The clone sniggered at the Doctor's shocked look.

"Oh come on, you didn't think I wouldn't let you come close to me without having some sort of protection around me. I'm not that daft," the clone said. "Nice try though. Now…go back over there before I turn on the pain disc again."

The Doctor glowered at him as he walked back over and knelt by Rose. Rose was now sitting up, one hand to the side of her head while she sobbed softly.

"Aw, sorry about that, dearest, but you know what they say, love hurts sometimes," the clone said to her.

He gave the Doctor a smug look when he gave his clone a look of death. He raised up his t-shirt and pointed to a black box that was attached to a plastic belt that went around his abdomen.

"Just showing you where the forcefield controls are because I'd just love to see you get it off me," the clone said while the Doctor gritted his teeth and glared at him.

The clone's attention turned towards River when he heard her groan.

"Hey, the would-be wife is waking up, brilliant," he said as he got up and walked over to her.

He stood over her while River slowly opened her eyes. When she was fully awake, she looked up while the clone waved to her.

"Who are you?" River said.

The clone sniggered at that.

"What's so funny?" River said.

"Oh, just thinking about the irony of all this. See, when the doofus over there first met you in this body, he didn't know who you were and now the situation is reversed and guess what, it's my turn to say…spoilers!"

He glanced at Amy and Rory when they began to wake up. He walked over to Amy and looked down at her while she woke up. Amy's eyes widened when she came awake and saw him. The clone wagged his eyebrows at her.

"Hello, ginger, would you like a fuck buddy? I'm available."

"Get away from her," Rory said.

The clone turned his attention to him.

"Did you say something to me, geeky-boy?" the clone said to him.

"Where's Rose?" Rory said to him.

The clone grabbed him under the arms and dragged him over to Rose's side. He let Rory's head drop to the concrete and then stared at him pointedly while he poked Rose repeatedly on the top of the head.

"Have fun chatting with her about chav stuff, I'm going back to ginger now," the clone said, walking away.

"Leave my wife alone!" Rory yelled at him.

The clone froze and looked back at him.

"Wife? Hottie ginger actually married someone like you? Ah, mate, you married way, waaay out of your league," he said. "Now that I'm here, she can get rid of you."

"Think again, nutjob," Amy said.

The clone walked up to her. He stood in between her and River. Amy glared at him while he wagged his eyebrows at her and kissed the air. Then he looked at River who was also giving him a look of death.

"I know what happens to you in the end. Wanna hear a spoiler for a change?" he asked her.

"What are you going to do with us?" River asked him.

"Well, I haven't quite decided. I would like to have ginger here for a possible concubine though. She's well fit."

"No thanks," Amy said.

"On the other hand," the clone said to River while he ignored Amy, "if I did something to you, that could cause one of those annoying paradoxes. However, I could do things to you and not actually kill you. So…still thinking. Geeky boy though, I might just put him to death, he seems to be useless."

"Leave him alone!" Amy said.

"But you can do far better than him. He's not even in your league. I'm going to be the ruler of the world and possibly the universe, give me a try."

"Piss off," Amy said.

The Doctor and Rory yelled in rage when the clone smacked her face as hard as he could.

"You don't tell me to do anything, slave," the clone snarled at her. "As Rose could tell you, I'm the one that tells you to do something, not the other way around, and if you want to keep your pretty little head firmly on your shoulders, you'll do well to remember that."

He smirked at her while she glowered at her and walked back over to the Doctor.

"So…enough of this nonsense," he said when he reached his side. "I believe all of us will take a stroll outside and go to your TARDIS so we can begin the whole lives transfer…or do I need to torture your friends and lovers a bit more?"

"No, I'll do what you want," the Doctor said in an icy tone of voice.

"Brilliant. Just what I like to hear, compliance from the lesser beings. So, lesser being, stand up and help me untie your friends' and sweetie's legs so they can walk with us and then after that, we'll have a little party inside the TARDIS."


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

Rose helped the Doctor loosen the ropes so they could walk. The clone sat on his chair, relaxing while he watched them closely. The Doctor knelt down beside Amy, loosening the rope while Rose worked on Rory. River, who was still waiting, was lying nearby, glaring at the clone who was looking at her and making kissy faces.

"Sure you don't wanna know how you die?" the clone asked River.

"No thanks," River said.

"Blast, I was hoping you'd say yes so I could scream "Spoilers!" in your face. You're no fun," the clone said.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" River asked him.

"He's my clone, River. The clone of my last life," the Doctor said to her as he finished working on Amy.

"You are?" River said with a frown.

"Indeed I am, Professor Song. In fact, when Witless first met you, it was when he looked like this. And as I said before, he didn't know you yet."

He noticed Rose had paused a moment to listen to that and got up. She flinched when he walked over to her. The clone grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.

"And according to Ms. Song there, she's your lover's future wife or something like that. So see, he isn't as faithful as you think!"

River stared at Rose in shock while the Doctor groaned. The clone let go of Rose's face and sauntered back to his chair. He sat down and relaxed, eager to see what would happen now that the cat was out of the bag about River and Rose both being the Doctor's lovers. Rose and River stared at each other silently while the Doctor finished with Amy and helped her stand up. River jerked her head towards the Doctor as he and Amy came towards Rose.

"This woman is your lover?" River asked as the Doctor knelt down beside Rose and worked on Rory's ropes.

"Yes, she is, I knew her long before I met you and I've never stopped loving her," the Doctor said to her before he started untying Rory. "I realize we have some sort of relationship but I don't have any feelings for you at the moment, apart from friendship since you won't tell me who you are and how you're connected to me."

He could see the hurt look on River's face while he heard his clone sniggering and the urge to pummel the living daylights out of his double increased. He glanced at Rose who had her eyes on the floor, a crestfallen look on her face. He and Rory shared a look.

"I didn't get to them in time to tell them anything," Rory said to him. "We stepped into the room and I closed the door and he opened the door and lobbed this metal ball into the room and electricity came out of it and shocked us all and that's all I know until I woke up here."

"Electricity grenade," the clone said. "Another nifty thing from Torchwood. They do have a lot of cool gadgets, I must say. I had no idea geeky boy was going to explain about River and Rose but I'm glad I got to them in time so I could see the reaction on Rose's face when she found out her knight in shining armor had another princess waiting in the wings. Guess he tires of you in future, Rose? I don't blame him because you became very tiresome to me as well."

The Doctor rolled his eyes as he finished untying Rory's ropes. He helped him to stand up and once he was on his feet, the Doctor leaned into his ear and whispered something. The clone raised his eyebrow, watching while he whispered to Rory and Rory nodded.

"Okay, what just happened?" he said while the Doctor patted Rory on the shoulder and went to help River. "Did you just tell him to walk the Earth and use the countdown because I know all about that little ploy."

He raised his eyebrow again when Rory whispered something to Rose.

"Okay, what's with the Chinese Whispers all of a sudden? Are you telling your companions to walk the Earth?" the clone said.

Rose nodded and smiled at Rory.

"Or are you planning a ménage a trois?" the clone asked the Doctor.

"Spoilers," the Doctor said airily as he finished untying River and helped her up.

The Doctor heard the clone sigh in frustration. He was facing River and saw her looking past his shoulder. He turned just in time to see the clone lunge at him and he grunted when the clone decked him.

"I said no back chat!" the clone screamed at him.

River snarled at him. She raised her leg, kicked at him and the clone laughed hysterically when the leg bounced off his force field and the recoil nearly sent her to the floor. She hopped on one leg, planted her other foot and managed to keep from falling but she glared at the clone while he gave her a smug look.

"I neglected to mention that I have a personal force field around me. So I can injure you lot but you can't touch me and if you do that again, I'll make sure you die before it's time," he growled at River.

"You won't be so smug when I find a way around that and kill you," River growled back.

"Ooo, a challenge, looking forward to it. Give it your best shot. But if you fail, perhaps you and Rose can have a celebratory fuck with the Doctor as a consolation prize…which will be me by that time. Unless, you're into necrophilia, of course, in which case have at the Doctor's corpse and shag it senseless."

He chuckled when River shot him a look of death. She gritted her teeth when he gave her a condescending pat on the head and walked back to his chair. On the way there, he suddenly lashed out and smacked Rose hard in the face.

"And that's for keeping secrets from me!" he yelled as Rose reeled from the force of the blow.

He turned to sit down and noticed the Doctor was now behind him, glaring at him with utter hatred.

"You may think that force field protects you but trust me, if River doesn't find a way around it, I will, and I'll make you sorry you were ever born," he snarled.

"Well, just think on this then," the clone said. "If it wasn't for your vanity, I wouldn't be here now since you were so desperate not to regenerate. And seeing what you look like now, I don't blame ya one bit. I would wanna be this body too after seeing this," he added, gesturing to the Doctor's body. "But anyway…is everyone ready to go now? If so, then you can follow the Doctor. But be warned, Doctor, no tricks or I'll not only turn on the disc in Rose's head and throw the remote in the Thames but I'll also torture the other three to death. And once that's finished, I'll lock the doors to the other disciples' rooms and burn them all alive. I'm not to be trifled with, so consider that fair warning. Whatever you whispered in their ears better not be some sort of plan to defeat me because they will suffer if it is."

"I can assure you it's not," the Doctor said. "Now can we get a move on?"

"Of course," the clone said with sudden cheerfulness. "Lead the way back to the old girl."

The Doctor stepped ahead of the clone and the clone gestured to the others to follow him. Rory stayed beside Rose while Amy and River followed them. The clone brought up the rear, whistling cheerfully while they went back up the stairs. When they reached the top, Rose helped everyone who was tied up to step up out of the hole. She tried to help River but she jerked away from her hand and walked up on her own. Rose sighed, shook her head and walked out after her. Amy noticed that Rory stopped, long enough for Rose to catch up to him and then he resumed walking with her. As they walked out the door, they noticed that most of the rooms were silent and the lights were now out.

"Bedtime, you know, we keep a tight schedule around here," the clone said to them. "Keep going. We're going out the front door."

They went down the stairs, the Doctor leading the way. He reached the bottom, turned and headed for the front door. His companions followed with the clone bringing up the rear. While they walked, River let out a frustrated sigh.

"Wait, can we at least have our arms free? We can't attack you with that force field on," River said to the clone.

"No, because if we get inside the TARDIS, you might do something, flip a switch and kill me or something like that," the clone said.

"The Doctor could do that as well," River said.

"Yes, but he won't because if he does, you all suffer," the clone said.

"Well, what if we're held to the same threat? If any of us tries anything, the rest suffer," Amy said. "I would like to have my arms free as well."

"Let them go," the Doctor said. "I give you my word that they won't rise up against you."

The clone sighed angrily.

"Fine, be quick about it, we're wasting time," he said.

The Doctor and Rose finished untying everyone. Rose let the Doctor deal with River since she figured River wouldn't let her touch her after everything that happened. She loosened Amy's bonds and she thanked her before she moved to Rory. She untied him and Rory smiled and patted her on the shoulder while the Doctor finished with River.

"Is everyone finished now?" the clone said.

They nodded and the clone ordered them to move. They walked to the front door and the Doctor opened it, looking outside at the night sky. He led everyone as he walked down the steps and headed towards the alley.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

"Ooo-ee!" the clone said, stepping inside the TARDIS and looking around. "So you've redecorated. I have to admit I like it. I'll keep it this way when the TARDIS is officially mine. Now, follow me, Doctor, to the console. The rest of you stay by it and you better not try anything."

Everyone stopped and watched while the Doctor and clone climbed the steps to the console. While they were doing that, Amy came up beside Rory. He was standing beside Rose while River stood a few feet behind them. Amy leaned into Rory's ear.

"What did the Doctor whisper to you?" she whispered in his ear.

Rory leaned into her ear.

"He asked me to look after Rose and keep her safe in case anything happened to him. I told Rose what he said so she knows," Rory whispered.

Amy nodded and smiled. She glanced at Rose who was quietly watching the Doctor and the clone and then glanced back at River. She noticed River was glaring at Rose's back but the moment she caught Amy's eye, she glanced away. She liked River but she thought it was a bit childish of her to be resentful of Rose for being the Doctor's lover, especially since she did agree that the Doctor had little to go on regarding their relationship since she usually crowed out "Spoilers!" whenever he asked for any information. She felt sorry for Rose. First she was abused and forced to come back to her original universe in order to lure the Doctor into a trap and now a woman she didn't know was resenting her because she had a relationship with a man who may or may not be her husband. She sighed, knowing the Doctor was right. Once this was finished, everyone needed to sit down for a nice long chat and sort things out. They watched while the clone reached into his trouser pocket and put a flat disc on the console.

"There, that'll prevent your ship from turning against me," the clone said to the Doctor as he pressed a button on top and turned it on. "Now, everyone follow us to the Cloister Room."

"Cloister Room?" Amy muttered to her friends when they started walking.

"The Eye of Harmony is in the Cloister Room. It's a power source for the TARDIS," River said to them.

"What's he gonna do then? Turn off the power and immobilize the ship?" Rory said softly.

"Your guess is as good as mine. No telling what the nutter's gonna do," River said with a shrug.

They followed the Doctor through several corridors until he came to a door on his left. He went inside and everyone followed.

"Whoa," Amy said when they entered into a huge stone room that looked like an old cathedral.

Off to their left were stone steps. The steps went up to a landing that had a huge stained glass window above it, then they turned left and went up to a second landing and a walkway that stretched around the room. In the center of the room was a circular object that had a stone dome on top of it. The dome had designs chisled into it and around it were four cement posts that were at the four corners of a cement wall that encircled the dome. Amy's eyes widened when she heard chittering and she looked up in shock to see bats flying overhead.

"Are those real?" she said as the other three looked where she was pointing.

"If they are, they better not land in our hair," Rory said softly.

"Okay, pay attention everyone," the clone said, clapping to get their attention. "This is the Eye of Harmony. It used to be the main source of power for the TARDIS until Gallifrey was destroyed. The Eye was linked to a larger eye back on Gallifrey so once the planet was lost, that power source was lost as well. That's why every so often the TARDIS has to land on a rift in time and space that's based in Cardiff and refuel. Now, the energy contained within the Eye is extremely powerful and if focused correctly, it can become part of an energy transfer. Which is what I'm planning to do with the Doctor and myself. We're going to open the Eye and look into it and his lives will be transferred into my body. After that, the Doctor will be killed and I will take my place as Time Lord supreme. Any questions?"

River raised her hand.

"Yes," the clone said, pointing to her.

"Is there any medication you need to be on and if so, where is it?" she said.

The Doctor bit his lip to hold his laughter in while the clone gave River an incensed look.

"Yeah, anyway, we'll skip question and answer time," the clone said while River gave him a haughty look. "So…the Eye of Harmony was built with a safety feature in mind, to prevent Time Lords from opening it and possibly harming themselves. The Eye can only be opened by removing one of these posts and staring into the energy. But it won't work for Time Lord eyes, that's the safety feature. The Eye will only open if it detects a human eye. Which means I need one of you to open it…which means, ROSE TYLER, IT'S YOUR LUCKY DAY!" he yelled at her. "Be a good girl, come here and open this for us."

"No."

Everyone fell silent when Rose spoke. The Doctor gave her a loving look when he saw the defiant look on her face. River, Rory and Amy held their breath when they saw the angry look on the clone's face.

"Rose, get over here now," the clone said.

"No. I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to help you kill the Doctor. I'm tired of being your slave and being bossed around. Piss off, ya pathetic git!"

The Doctor gave her a proud smile while the clone glowered at her. He sighed, reached into his pocket and showed her the remote.

"I'll use this," he said to her.

"USE IT THEN. I'M SICK OF BEING A COWERING LITTLE VICTIM. IF THE DOCTOR'S GONNA DIE, I WANNA DIE WITH HIM SO GO RIGHT AHEAD!"

Everyone gasped when he pushed the button and Rose fell to her knees, screaming in agony.

"Fine, Bitch, have it your way then," the clone said, walking off.

He froze in his tracks when Rory ran around him and blocked his way.

"Out of my way, loser," the clone said.

"Turn it off, now," Rory growled at him.

"No, don't want to; I'm tired of her disrespect. She wants to die, let her die," the clone said with a shrug.

He chuckle when Rory stood still, his hand balled into a fist.

"See, you can't touch me," he said gleefully. "All you can do is stand there like a pillock while she screams. Sucks to be you. Now if you'll excuse…"

He heard a grinding sound and turned to see Amy pulling the staff from the concrete. Before anyone could stop her, she bent over and looked into the energy coming through the hole. There was a rumbling and everyone stood back while the dome split and both sides came down, revealing the energy within.

"There, I did it for ya," Amy said, throwing the staff down. "Now stop torturing Rose!"

The clone shrugged and pushed the button on the remote. The Doctor knelt beside Rose as she gasped and sobbed, her head throbbing.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I tried," Rose said softly while the Doctor put his hand on her back.

"I know, Rose, I'm proud of you," he said gently.

"Don't do this, please," Rose said softly as she clutched at his arm. "Don't kill yourself for me or anyone else. Don't let him have your lives."

The Doctor kissed her cheek. He moved his mouth back to her ear.

"Don't worry, I'll think of something," he whispered. "Just do as he says and don't resist any more. I'll be alright, I promise."

He nuzzled her cheek for a moment before he beckoned to Rory to come and sit with her. As Rory hurried to Rose's side, the Doctor stood up and caught River's eye. He saw the anger there and he walked over to her.

"Had a companion called Martha Jones who traveled with me. She was a wonderful person but she also fell in love with me and became jealous of Rose even though Rose was trapped in the other universe at the time and wasn't around to defend herself. I made it clear from the start that we were friends but somewhere along the way she thought we were something more. She did come to her senses and finally stopped her obsession with me but I have to admit I now see echoes of her jealous in you, River. I hate to tell you this but I did have a life before I met you and Rose is a part of that life. I told you before that I won't commit to something more than friendship unless you tell me who you are and I stand by that. Rose has suffered enough without you being angry at her for no good reason and I won't tolerate you ostracizing her out of jealousy. Whatever happens here, I want you to treat her with respect even if you won't choose to be her friend, is that clear?"

"Crystal," River said.

"Good. I asked Rory to look after her which is what I whispered to him earlier, Valeyard, so now your curiosity is satisfied."

"Yeah, whatever, I don't care about this whole soap opera going on in front of me. And I don't care if Rory is Rose's guardian since I'm sure I'll kill the git once you're dead and gone. Now…shall we begin?"

"Let's get it over with," the Doctor said with a shrug. "And I'll go willingly, no need to put that weird apparatus on me like last time or chain me up. I'll stand there and keep my eyes open for you."

"Good. Get moving."

"Doctor, don't do this," Rose said.

The Doctor smiled at her. He knelt down beside her and embraced her. Rose returned the embrace and buried her face in his shoulder. The Doctor kissed the rim of her ear and put his lips to it.

"Don't worry, Rose," he whispered. "I have a few tricks up my sleeve. This isn't over yet."

Rose hugged him tightly and he tightened his hold on her in return. They stayed that way for several seconds and then the Doctor broke the embrace. He then hugged Rory, Amy and River before he turned and faced the clone.

"Ready?" the clone said.

"Yup, let's get this show on the road, mate," the Doctor said.

The clone nodded and pointed up to the walkway.

"Go up there and get in position then," he said.

The Doctor nodded and when the clone looked away for a moment, he looked at his companions, gave them a quick wink and headed for the stairs.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"Now you will remember to close the Eye once this is finished," the Doctor said while he walked across the walkway towards the light that was shining through two of the reflector staffs. "You do remember that not only will this drain the TARDIS's power but it'll also turn the planet inside out if you keep it open too long?"

"Yes, yes, yes," the clone said dismissively as he walked up the stairs. "I do remember what happened before."

He paused on the stairs and glared down at the Doctor's companions.

"And you lot, don't you dare try anything while we're doing this because I will kill you without a second thought. You can't do anything to stop this so you might as well relax and watch the transfer take place."

"And once you finish with this, I'm gonna break your neck and keep on breaking it until you die," River muttered.

"This can't be how it ends," Amy said softly. "There's gotta be a way to stop him before he takes the Doctor's lives."

She noticed Rose getting an odd look on her face. She glanced up at the clone who was now walking to the light nearest the stairs while the Doctor sighed, crossed his arms over his chest and stood in the light furthest from the stairs. He looked down at his companions and caught Rory's eye. Rory frowned when he noticed the Doctor was mouthing something to him.

"What? Didn't get that," Rory mouthed back.

The Doctor waited till the clone was turning to position himself in the light before he mouthed it again.

"He lied," Rory muttered to himself as he read his lips. "When the…transfer starts, we won't be able to move."

He raised his eyebrows at that.

"So, he won't be able to stop us if we leave?" he mouthed back to the Doctor.

The Doctor managed to nod before the light intensified on both him and his clone's face. The Doctor gritted his teeth, fighting the pain while the clone closed his eyes and basked in the knowledge that the Doctor's lives would soon be his. Rory turned to the others.

"The Doctor just told me silently that the clone lied to us, they can't move now that the transfer's started."

"Oh, so we can kill him and he can't resist?" River said, "Good!"

"No, he still has that force field on. I'm betting we still can't penetrate it," Amy said. "Why else would he leave us here and not tie us up."

Suddenly, Rose turned and ran out of the room. They watched her go and looked up at the Doctor and the clone. The clone still had his eyes closed but the Doctor managed to focus on them and nodded.

"Go!" he mouthed to them. "Get out of here!"

"Come on, the clone can't run after us as long as he's linked with the Doctor," River said. "We gotta find a way to stop him."

The three of them turned and ran out of the room, heading for the console room.

"I wonder where Rose went," Amy said.

"Maybe she knows a way to stop him," Rory said as they ran. "She's been with the clone, she might know something we don't."

"YOU CAN RUN, BUT I'LL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU AS SOON AS I'M FINISHED HERE!" they heard the clone bellow behind them.

"Oh, belt up, you freak," River muttered as they rounded a corner and sprinted for the console room.

They ran through the back door and slowed when they saw Rose standing at the console. They went down the stairs towards her.

"Are you sure it's safe?" Rose was saying to the console. "I nearly died the last time."

"Who are you talking to?" Rory asked as they came up beside her.

Rose looked up at them.

"The TARDIS. She got my attention back in the Cloister Room. She wanted to speak with me and she's speaking to me telepathically through the mental link I share with her."

"What does she say? Can she save the Doctor?" Amy said.

"She can't because the Valeyard put that on her," Rose said, pointing to the disc on her console. "I tried taking it off but it shocked me. He's rigged it so no one can take it off."

"But she knows a way around it?" Rory asked.

"Yeah. She can use me to stop him," Rose said.

"You? How?" Rory said.

"I have this…entity inside me called Bad Wolf," she said to them.

She quickly explained about the Bad Wolf and what happened on Satellite Five while they listened in a stunned silence.

"So, you're going to become this…Bad Wolf again?" Rory said when she finished her explanation. "You just said that taking the TARDIS's energy into your body nearly killed you and killed the Doctor."

"Yes, but the TARDIS told me that I overdid it the last time because I took in too much. She told me that if she controls the amount that goes into my body, I can become the Bad Wolf and be able to control it and send the energy back to her when I'm finished. She'll give me just enough to awaken the Bad Wolf inside me."

"And you'll be able to get past that bastard's force field?"River said.

"I s'pose so. I managed to disintegrate all the Daleks around us and the Dalek Emperor. A force field should be easy compared to that," Rose said. "I just hope it works but what choice do we have?"

Amy, Rory and River followed her as she walked around to the side of the console facing the front door. She told the TARDIS she was ready and the three of them watched while a hatch flew open on the console near her. Rose bent over and looked into it and the three of them watched in amazement as a golden stream of light burst out and began to flow into her eyes. For ten seconds, Rose was frozen, her expression spellbound as the energy flowed into her and then the hatch closed and Rose leaned back up, her eyes glowing with an unearthly light.

"Rose?" Rory said.

"I am the Bad Wolf now," Rose said in an ethereal tone of voice.

"Can you save the Doctor?" Amy asked.

"I can and I can save the clone as well," the Bad Wolf said. "But first…"

Bad Wolf lay her hand on the control disc and they watched while it disintegrated into atoms.

"Now the TARDIS can close the eye," Bad Wolf informed them.

"But that means the clone will be able to move again if the connection is broken," Rory said.

Bad Wolf smiled.

"Don't worry; he won't be a threat when I get through with him. Come," she said.

As they followed her out of the room, they heard the clone screaming in frustration and they knew the TARDIS was closing the Eye. By the time they reached the Cloister Room, the clone was stomping out of the room in a rage.

"I don't know what you lot did but you're gonna pay for that!" the clone said, seeing Rory, Amy and River.

He froze when Bad Wolf came around them and stared at him with her glowing eyes. River smirked when she noticed a fearful look come over his face. As he stood there, frozen with fear. The Doctor ran out of the room, trying to overtake the clone, and froze when he saw Rose.

"Oh, no," the Doctor said. "No, no, not this again."

"It's alright, Doctor," Rory said. "She said the TARDIS gave her enough energy to control the Bad Wolf this time."

"That is correct," Bad Wolf said. "Rose took too much energy within her the last time. This time I am able to protect her from dying and she will not use the power irresponsibly."

"So, you're going to kill me then?" the clone said. "Turn me into atoms like you did with the Daleks?"

"That's up to you," Bad Wolf said. "You must be stopped and you must be punished for what you did. However, I still see some potential for good deep within you. You were created to fulfill a purpose and you did that, however, instead of continuing to do good things, you let the rage and darkness within you overtake you and you have become evil. However, there is still a chance that you can become a good person again but it will cost you."

"Oh? And what will it cost me?" the clone said, folding his arms over his chest.

"It will cost the rest of your Time Lord self," Bad Wolf said. "You have a choice. You can either submit to the chameleon arch and assume a new identity or you can be turned into atoms and cease to exist. It's your choice but I cannot leave you as you are with your tainted and corrupt mind that thrives on hate and chaos. And you should be thankful that I am giving you a choice since you've hurt and demeaned Rose and as her protector, I could kill you just for that. But I am a benevolent being and I will give you a chance because despite all you've done to her, Rose does love you and I know she doesn't want you to die, not if you can be reformed."

"But if I go under the chameleon arch, I'll lose my identity," the clone said.

"You already lost yourself by turning evil, that's the Bad Wolf's point," the Doctor said to him. "I could have killed you or let you die with Davros but I also saw the good in you and that's why I gave you a chance and entrusted Rose to you. You made some mistakes but with the chameleon arch, you can start over and have a whole new life."

"But I'll be human, only one life," the clone said.

"Then you better make the most of it, mate," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry that you got caught between two worlds and you weren't able to become a full Time Lord but what you tried to do is wrong. The Master tried the very same thing and his body was absorbed by the TARDIS. At least the Bad Wolf isn't chucking you into the Eye of Harmony without giving you a chance. I'd take her offer if I were you because if she doesn't turn you into atoms, I'll freeze your body and imprison you on the TARDIS forever."

"Please," Amy said. "Do this. Don't die, not when you can still do so much good in the universe."

The clone looked at all of them and her eyes settled on Bad Wolf. While he watched her, the eyes dimmed slightly allowing Rose's persona to have control for a moment. The clone watched her warily while she came towards him and took his hand.

"Please do this," Rose said. "I still love you and I don't want you to die, not when you can have a second chance."

The clone stared into her eyes.

"How could you love me, after all I did to you?" the clone said.

"Because I also saw the good within you, that's why I didn't leave you and kept trying to help you. I put up with your abuse because I hoped that you would finally see what I saw all along. I know you'll be losing your Time Lord half and your identity but you'll have a new life and maybe you can find someone who will love you."

"You won't come with me?" the clone said.

"No, my place is with here," Rose said. "I'm sorry but it wouldn't be fair to you since I still love the Doctor. You need to find someone who will love you for who you are, not who you resemble. So will you do this for me?"

The clone looked around at everyone.

"I suppose if I don't do this, you'll all be lining up to beat the living daylights outta me," he said to them.

"Pretty much, yeah," the Doctor said. "And River will be queuing up first."

"You better believe it," River muttered.

The clone sighed.

"I s'pose I don't have a choice. I don't wanna die but…I don't wanna lose my Time Lord side either."

"Being human isn't so bad," Amy said.

"And I think your two sides have been at war with each other since you were born," the Doctor said. "I think part of you wants to be human but the other half wants to be a Time Lord. If you want my opinion, I think the human side is more dominant since Donna got your Time Lord mind and I think you'd do better as a human."

The clone thought about that for a moment then he looked at the Doctor.

"Okay, if I become a new person, could I travel with you as a companion then?" he asked.

"Um…well…"

"If I have a new identity, I won't think of myself as the Doctor so I won't be a danger to you, right?" the clone said. "You lot told me I need to get out there and do some good in the universe. So why can't I do some good as your companion?"

"Um…one moment, quick conference between current companions and me," the Doctor said.

The clone gasped when the Bad Wolf briefly came back and immobilized the clone in a force field. Then she retreated enough that Rose's persona took dominance and she and the others walked several feet away from the clone and got in a huddle. While the clone stood there and waited impatiently for their meeting to end, he sensed a tickle in his mind.

_Do you know me, _a voice said in his mind.

_Yes, you're the TARDIS,_ he thought back. _But why are you speaking to me?_

_Because I agree with the others. There is still the potential to be a good person within you and I wanted to ask you to use the chameleon arch and become human._

_But, I don't wanna lose myself, my identity, _the clone thought.

_You lost yourself the moment you succumbed to your inner rage and darkness. You were brought into being to be a force for good in the universe but you became unstable because you couldn't live with yourself as a human so you ended up hurting the woman that tried to love you and nearly killing her and everyone here in the process. But I don't want to see you die so I'm asking you to do this for me._

_And become one of the Doctor's companions? _

_That's up to them. But whatever happens, I want you to make your life into something wonderful. I do care for you despite what you've become. _

The clone teared up at that and the TARDIS nudged his mind affectionately.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to the TARDIS. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I should forget this life and everything I've done and become someone else."

The TARDIS nudged his mind again and for the first time in a long time, the clone began to weep softly while he waited for the Doctor and the others to finish their meeting.


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

When the Doctor finished with the meeting, he turned back around and did a double take when he saw the tears on the clone's cheeks.

"Guilt?" the Doctor said to him.

"I'm just afraid of becoming someone else," the clone said. "Everyone wants me to do this, even the TARDIS, but I don't want to become a different person."

"But think of it this way," Amy said. "Once you do it, you won't remember your old life, yeah? That's what the Doctor said would happen."

"Come on, what have you got to lose?" the Doctor said.

"I thought you wanted me dead, after all I did to Rose," the clone said to him.

"Well, in a way, this is a death but it's also a rebirth. I don't believe in killing someone if I can help it and you oughta be thankful since River wants to get her claws into you. However, she will restrain herself and let you live if you agree to do this. Now…about being a companion…we're willing to give you a chance since I do think that you would be a great asset to us and if you become a new person, you won't be a threat to us. Besides, I would feel more secure if you were around me, at least for a bit, until I make sure you really won't go insane again. So, how about it? Do you want to do this?"

"Yeah, I'll do it," the clone said. "What do I have to lose? And you're right, once I go through it, I won't remember this life so I won't be mourning its loss."

"Exactly. Now, we're going to let you go or rather Bad Wolf is, so behave yourself."

The clone nodded and Bad Wolf took away the force field. The clone shook his head.

"Why did I let you lot roam free? I must have been insane," the clone said. "I shoulda known you lot would have found a way to stop me."

"Maybe you wanted us to stop you," Rory said. "Maybe deep inside, you knew what you were doing is wrong so you wanted someone to stop you and that's why you made the decision not to imprison us."

"Perhaps," the clone muttered. "Anyway, let's get this over with."

"Very well," the Doctor said. "While we walk to the console room, think up a name and a back story for yourself and I'll do the rest."

When they went into the console room, the clone sat on the chair for a moment while the Doctor lowered the chameleon arch from the ceiling. While that was going on, Rose walked around to the front and the Doctor paused a moment, watching as the hatch opened up and Rose breathed the energy back into the TARDIS. She blinked for a moment after she was through and the hatch closed and the Doctor smiled as he extended his hand to her.

"Didn't hurt, this time?" he asked her as she took her hand.

"S'pose not, I don't remember it hurting the last time. You had to tell me that," Rose said. "But I do know that the Bad Wolf burned up the disc in my head and got rid of it and took away that whole Astra persona. She also healed my body and took away all the scars and evidence of abuse."

"Good, I'm glad," the Doctor said before he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

He looked at the clone.

"So? Got a name and back story yet?" he said.

The clone nodded. The Doctor guided the arch over to him and everyone gathered around him while he put it on his head. The clone then gave him his name and back story. He wanted to be called David Collins and he was a history professor at Cambridge who decided to go on a walking tour of the English countryside when he met the Doctor at Stonehenge. The Doctor nodded.

"Was at Stonehenge last year with this lot. I can work that in to your back story and say we met you there when we found the Pandorica."

"Pandorica?" the clone said while the Doctor quickly typed in the information.

"Don't worry; you'll gain knowledge of it in a moment. Now…are you ready?"

The clone nodded and gripped the helmet. The Doctor pushed a button and Amy, Rory and Rose winced when he screamed in agony. The Doctor looked at River who was calmly watching it.

"Let me guess, seen it before," he said to her.

"Yes, dear, I do know my way around a TARDIS," she said to him.

The chameleon arch stopped and the clone slumped as he passed out. Amy, Rory and Rose gave the Doctor an alarmed look and he held up his hand.

"Don't worry, he's fine. That happens so the new memories can take effect. When he wakes up, he'll think of himself as David Collins. Now…in the meantime, let's put him in a bedroom and make him comfortable. I told the TARDIS to let him think he's been traveling with us since Stonehenge so he won't think it strange to wake up inside the TARDIS. Then…we are all going to have a nice little chat about the events of recent days. After that, Rose, you need to become Astra one more time because you need to get rid of the rest of the Disciples and tell them that the group has disbanded."

Rose nodded and he put his arm around her. He noticed River's jealous look and he sighed deeply. He and Rory picked up the clone and carried him out of the room while everyone followed them. The TARDIS moved the rooms around and they walked into a room that had been prepared for the clone. It had a large bed with a black duvet, a cherry wood nightstand with matching chest of drawers, a closet with casual clothes and a full length mirror just inside the closet door. There were a couple of pleasant paintings on the wall of English countryside scenes and a white porcelain lamp was on a small table by the door. The Doctor and Rory disrobed the clone and dressed him in deep blue pajamas that they found in the chest of drawers. Once he was in his pajamas, they put him under the covers, got him comfortable and left him there to rest while the Doctor led them to the living room.

Everyone sat down on the sofa and chairs and the Doctor stood in front of the wooden coffee table that was in front of the large sofa.

"First off, I want Amy and Rory to finish this argument they had because I don't want Rory yelling at me if Amy happens to get hurt. So…go ahead if you have anything to say."

"I just get tired of you being overprotective of me," Amy said. "I was travelin' with him for a bit before you showed up and I never died or was seriously hurt. I know you love me but sometimes you go a bit overboard!"

"Overboard? You nearly died from that dart the other day," Rory said.

"You've died twice so far, actually died, and I watched you die in front of me both times and I dealt with that. Shouldn't I be overprotective of you then?" Amy said.

"He died?" Rose said.

Amy nodded and briefly explained what happened to Rory in the dream world and when he was shot and absorbed by the crack in time.

"Wow, that tops what I did. I did a lot of things travelin' with the Doctor but I never died and came back."

"Well, in a sense you did," the Doctor said to her. "I told you they declared you dead in this world after the Battle of Canary Wharf and you came back here but…you're right, it's not exactly the same as Rory physically dying. Although…the dream world, it was just an illusion but still…I'm rabbiting on, go ahead with what you were saying, Amy."

"I just want you to trust me more," Amy said to Rory. "You can worry about me. I worry about you as well but part of being married is trust and you need to start trusting me more. And as for the Doctor…I admit I did have a silly little crush on him but we have done nothing apart from kissing and most of the kissing was instigated by me. I'm not having an affair with him, we're just friends!"

"Acting like Jack, were ya?" Rose said to the Doctor with an impish smile.

"No, I don't think anyone could ever top Harkness when it comes to seducing and shagging others," the Doctor said dryly while she giggled. "Amy is telling the truth, Rory. I haven't slept with her or made inappropriate advances. Like she said, she did have a bit of a crush on me but so have a lot of the people I've been around lately."

"Well, you're cute," Rose said. "And your last life was cute too. We can't help wanting to kiss your cute face."

Amy chortled and River chuckled when the Doctor's face reddened and he coughed nervously.

"Yes, well, continue," he said to Amy and Rory.

"That's it, that's all I have to say. I just want you to trust me more," Amy said to Rory. "And trust the Doctor. Quit being so paranoid of him and me because there's nothing going on, yeah?"

Rory nodded.

"I'm sorry, I really am. But you know that you've had a crush on him since you were seven and it's hard to get past that," Rory said. "And I will try not to worry so much about you but after 2000 years of guarding you, it's hard not to be overprotective."

"2000 years?" Rose said with a raised eyebrow. "You're 2000 years old?"

"I was…" Rory said. "It's a complicated story and I'll tell you about it later, yeah?"

Rose nodded.

"So, is everything sorted with you and Amy?" the Doctor said. "Are you all friends again?"

Rory and Amy nodded.

"And you and me are mates again?" the Doctor said to Rory.

"Yeah, we are," Rory said.

"Groovy. So, issue number two, River and Rose," the Doctor said, turning to face River. "Now, first off, Rose is staying here with me and you are going back to prison, so at least you won't have to be around each other all the time."

"Prison?" Rose said. "She's supposed to be in prison?"

"I escape from time to time to help them," River said to Rose.

"But, why are you in prison?" Rose said.

River didn't answer and the Doctor sighed.

"She's in there because one of her jailers said that she killed a good man," the Doctor said. "But…River is from my future and she seems to be going backward along my time stream while I move forward. I first met her in my previous life at…"

The Doctor caught himself before he said the location.

"I met her in my previous life," he amended. "She knew me but I didn't know her which is why my clone knew her and she didn't recognize my clone. She is moving backwards in time and someday she'll reach a point where she'll meet my past self. For me, that meeting has already occurred so the next time we met when I was traveling with Amy, I knew who she was. Now, because she is from my future, she knows things about my future including the true manner in which we are connected. She won't reveal this to me because it's in my future but she has given hints that somehow we are romantically involved with each other."

He nodded at Rose's shocked expression.

"And we're possibly even married, although once again that is spoilers, as she puts it. Having said that, I've asked several times who you are, River, and what your connection is to me and you won't answer."'

"Because it's not time for you to know yet," River said.

"Fine. Then don't get mad at me having a relationship with Rose. Rose was here before you, way before you since I met her in my ninth life. I fell in love with her and we had and are having a romantic relationship. I care about you, River, but I won't fall in love with someone I barely know anything about. I'm sorry if that upsets you, I'm sorry if it hurts but unless and until you tell me more, I'm reserving judgment about you and our relationship. Now, perhaps at one time Rose stayed in the other universe and we went on without her being in the picture but time can and does change sometimes and now she is here which may mean the future will change. Because, River, I'm not going to stop loving Rose when you reveal to me who you really are. Unless, somehow, you're a future version of Rose which is Rory's theory. So, are you? You can reveal that much, right?"

"No, I'm not a future version of Rose," River said.

"I figured as much since you didn't know who she was. Thank you for clearing that much up so I know you and she aren't the same person. Now, as I said before, I won't ask you to be friends with Rose but I will ask you to show her some respect and ask Rose to do the same. I know you have to go back to prison, but I have a feeling you'll be back and I'd really like for you and Rose to come to some sort of understanding so we can all work together in future. But for now, will you settle for us being friends?"

"I s'pose so," River said. "I won't lie and say I'm happy that Rose is here but you're right. You aren't meant to know yet who I am and you can't love someone you don't fully know. I don't want to be enemies with Rose. She seems like a nice person and I'd like to have her as a friend like Amy and Rory."

"I'd like to be your friend as well," Rose said. "You also seem like a nice person and I don't want us to hate each other because we both love the Doctor."

"Maybe you can marry them both," Amy teased the Doctor.

"Um…well…" he said while the women giggled. "I'll wait and see what the future holds for me before I do something like that. But in the meantime, I want the two of you to behave civilly to each other just as I want Amy and Rory to get along. I told you before that I think of all of you as my family and family members do disagree and argue but I'd rather we did that and moved on and made up rather than stay dysfunctional. Doing what we do, we need to rely on each other especially since Rory is worried about Amy's safety. We need to all watch out for each other and keep each other safe and we can't do that if we're at each other's throats. Agreed?"

Everyone nodded and the Doctor hugged each person in turn.

"Now…having said all this, I think we should keep the lines of communication open in future so we can talk to each other and avoid people wanting to leave us because they can't handle being here anymore," the Doctor said. "If anyone has any problems, let's talk instead of just keeping it bottled up inside because the last thing I want is for anyone to end up like our new friend and turn into an evil git because they're filled with rage and hate. Now if no one has anything else to say, I think we go have some tea and relax for a bit and I'll jump ahead in time after that and Rose can hold another meeting and tell everyone that the Time Lord Disciples are disbanding. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded and stood up. The Doctor had them hug each other and he hugged them again in turn. As they were walking out, the Doctor looked back over his shoulder.

"Time Lord Disciples, that's great. I think I'll start calling you lot that," he said.

He chuckled when everyone protested loudly and he put his arm around Rose while they walked to the kitchen.


	17. Epilogue

Epilogue

(Two months later…)

"I can't believe the Doctor is okay with this," Amy said to Rose.

They were inside a huge hut lying on several large Krark skins. The Krark resembled an elephant sized bear so the skins were massive. They were stretched over bean bags that were filled with feathers providing warmth and comfort. The Doctor and his companions had just finished saving the Delyon tribe from a Zygon invasion and were being honored with a feast and dancing. Unfortunately part of the night's festivities involved young virgin women, clad in skimpy animal skins. There were no male dancers so Amy and Rose were forced to watch while the women swooned over the Doctor, Rory and David while they danced provocatively for them.

"Oi!" Amy said to her husband when he stared at a young blonde women who was leaning over him and jiggling her massive boobs at him. "I'm over here, remember that!"

Rose glared at a red haired woman who had knelt down beside the Doctor and was running her hands over his body. To his credit, the Doctor was uncomfortable with it and was trying to move away but the woman was trying to straddle him with her body.

On the other hand, David, who was currently single was enjoying the attention of a dark skinned woman and one with jet black hair down to her waist. They had brought over a bowl of fruit and were feeding him slices of it while he relaxed and enjoyed them. After his transformation, the Doctor took the pocket watch containing his former self up into the TARDIS attic and hid it deep inside a huge cedar chest. Since then, David had not only been kind and loving but also was a great asset to the team and had helped them in several situations. He knew who Rose was but the TARDIS had programmed in that he was nothing more than friends with her and Rose quickly grew to like the new persona of the clone.

As for River, the Doctor took her back to her prison cell, which Rose thought was kinda strange since it wasn't like the Doctor couldn't take her away in the TARDIS and keep her from going back. But she willingly went back and the Doctor explained that she usually found a way to contact him and escape whenever she needed him for something.

"Don't worry about her," the Doctor said to her. "We'll see her again, I'm sure. Besides, I like this arrangement. With you here, it creates less tension if she's not around us constantly."

"What will you do when you finally learn who she is?" Rose asked him.

"Um…have two girlfriends?" the Doctor said with a wink. "Trust me; even if she's some long lost love, I'm not chucking you aside. You're definitely here to stay."

"Good answer," Rose said before she kissed him.

That was in the past, right now, Rose was getting upset because the virgin wouldn't leave her lover alone.

"Look," the Doctor said to her while she caressed his cheek with a lustful look on her face, "I'm sure you're a lovely woman, it's just that my girlfriend is about ten feet away from me and she's been known to beat the livin' daylights outta people so you might wanna reconsider this whole feel me up thing you've got goin' on, yeah?"

"And I'm married," Rory said to the blonde while she kissed his cheek repeatedly. "My wife is ginger and gingers are known for their tempers and she'll also knock you out if you don't stop kissing me."

"Gee, Rory, aren't you capable of knocking her out yourself," Amy said to him. "Because you're not putting up much of a fight."

"I'm just trying to be polite," Rory said. "Stop that, will you? She's giving you a look of death," he said to the woman who was now licking the side of his neck.

"As for me, I have no significant other at the moment so I can fully enjoy this," David said.

They looked over and noticed the dark skinned woman was straddling him, running her hands up under his t-shirt while her friend fed him the fruit.

"Well, you lot have fun then, I'm going outside," Amy said, getting up.

"Yup, same here," Rose said, following her.

They went outside the wooden hut into the cool night air. The huts were arranged around a dirt plaza in a circle. Most of the tribe was inside the hut so it was quiet and peaceful. The moons shown down and the stars twinkled as the wind blew softly. Amy wrapped her arms around her body while they stood just outside the door to the hut.

"So, how long ya think they're gonna stay in there?" Amy asked Rose.

"Your guess is as good as mine, although I think our men might try to get away from those tarts the moment they saw us leave," she replied. "As for David, who knows?"

"Yeah, well, David is single; I'm not worried about him. It's Rory that concerns me," Amy said.

"I wouldn't worry, I think they'll be joining us soon," Rose said.

Amy looked at the doorway and came closer to Rose.

"I have to tell you something, Rose," she said softly. "I haven't told anyone else yet but I just found out, I'm pregnant."

"Really? That's great news," Rose said.

"Yeah but what am I gonna do? I can't be runnin' from monsters and be nine months pregnant."

"We'll think of something," Rose said. "Don't worry about it. Just tell the others about it and we'll come up with a solution."

They looked over when the Doctor suddenly burst through the open doorway, gasping as he ran over to Rose and put his arms around her from behind.

"Finally!" he said while the women giggled. "That girl was relentless. Thought I'd never get away from her."

"What about Rory?" Amy asked.

The Doctor jerked his head around.

"Bloody Hell, I thought he was right behind me. Hang on, Rory, I'm coming to save you!" he said, running back in.

"Better get David out as well," Amy yelled.

Rory and David emerged a few minutes later and walked over to them.

"Where's the Doctor?" Rose said.

"Trying to explain to the chief that it's time for us to go," Rory said.

Rose looked at David; he had a contented look on his face, his hair was mussed up and his t-shirt was wrinkled.

"Did you have fun?" Rose asked, amused.

"I enjoyed it," David said. "Those women were gorgeous. I could've stayed in there for hours."

The Doctor hurried out of the doorway and ran up to them.

"Well, is the chief okay with us leaving?" Amy asked.

"No, but I'm going to go anyway," the Doctor said. "We have better things to do than get felt up by a bunch of randy virgins. So…come on…"

As they walked, Rose looked at Amy.

"Are you going to tell them?" she mouthed to her.

"In the TARDIS," Amy mouthed back.

When they got inside the TARDIS, the Doctor took them into deep space while everyone stood around the console.

"So, what should we do next?" the Doctor said to them.

"Before we do anything, Doctor, I have to tell you something," Amy said.

"Yes?" the Doctor said.

"Well, I'm…"

Amy didn't get to finish because they all heard a knock at the door. Everyone stared at the door in shock before the Doctor moved towards it.

"Someone's at the door?" Rory said. "We're in deep space."

"Very deep space," the Doctor said as someone knocked to the beat of shave and a haircut.

The Doctor opened the door and everyone watched as a small glowing box hovered in space in front of them.

"Come here," the Doctor said. "Come here, you scrumptious beauty!"

The box suddenly zoomed inside, zoomed around the room and hit the Doctor in the chest before falling to the floor. The Doctor picked it up and stared at it as if he was a child at Christmas looking at his Christmas gift.

"Doctor, what is it?" Amy asked.

"I've got mail," the Doctor said.

Everyone looked at each other as the Doctor snapped his fingers, closed the door and hurried up to the console so he could open it.

"I have a feeling, my friends, that we are about to set off on another adventure," the Doctor said as he opened the box.

THE END.


End file.
